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NYPL  RESEARCH  LIBRARIES 

ii     ■   Lin   i  i.i' hi i.' ,.i iii'. h m;i ii 


"V 


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HISTORY  OF 


Walworth  County 

WISCONSIN 


BY 

ALBERT  CLAYTON  BECKWITH 


ILLUSTRATED 


VOLUME  I 


1912 
B.  F.  BO  WEN  &  COMPANY 

INDIANAPOLIS.  INDIANA 


PUBLIC  LIBRAE  \- 


.Q 


iyi& 


DEDICATION. 


This  work  i>  respectfully  dedicated  ti> 


THE    PIONEERS, 


since  departed.      May  the  memory  of  those  who  laid  down  their  burdens 
by   the    wayside  ever  be    fragrant   as   the   breath   of   summer 
flowers,  for  their  toils  and  sacrifices  have  made 
Walworth  Count)  a  garden  of  sun- 
shine   and    delights. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 


In  preparing  this  work,  which. is  not  so  much  a  county  history  as  a  collec- 
tion of  notes  to  serve  the  coming  historian,  the  following  sources  of  informa- 
tion have  been  used  freely:  The  printed  and  manuscript  collections  of  the 
historical  societies  of  the  state  and  county ;  the  records  of  the  adjutant-gen- 
eral's office  at  Madison;  the  Legislative  Manuals  and  other  official  publications 
of  the  state;  the  Geological  and  Hydrographic  Surveys  of  Wisconsin;  the 
county  records  at  Elkhorn.  including  those  at  the  office  of  the  county  jndge, 
county  clerk,  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  treasurer,  register  of  deeds,  and  superin- 
tendent of  schools;  the  books  of  the  County  Agricultural  Society;  "History  of 
Walworth  County"  (Chicago,  1882);  Cravath's  "Annals  of  Whitewater"; 
Simmons's  "Annals  of  Lake  Geneva"  ;  the  files  of  Delavan,  Elkhorn  and  White- 
water newspapers;  the  personal  recollections  of  the  compiler  and  of  many  of 
his  known  and  unknown  friends,  within  and  without  the  county;  the  tomb- 
stones of  forty-five  burial  grounds;  and  unreckonable  minor  or  incidental 
papers,  pamphlets,  documents  and  letters. 

A  few  words  as  to  the  plan  and  arrangement  of  this  volume  may  not  be 
wholly  useless.  The  theory  of  its  construction  is  that  a  local  history,  its  inter- 
est, if  any,  confined  to  a  narrow  plat  of  ground,  cannot  have  in  it  too  much  oi 
the  personal  element.  An  arch-necromancer's  uncanny  skill  could  not  avail  to 
restore  anything  like  the  semblance,  even  though  but  ghostly,  of  all  those  men 
who  once  answered  to  the  names  found  in  the  lists  of  land-patentees  ot  [838, 
in  the  juror  lists  of  [839,  and  in  the  town-officer  lists  of  [843;  but  the  patient 
searcher  of  fading  records  may  find  a  date,  a  wife's  name,  a  hint  oi  heirs 
wrangling  over  a  will — something  to  show  that  these  men  have  not  all  of  them 
become  as  forgotten  kings  ,,f  pre-Mosaic  dynasties. 

The  neighboring  counties,  in  two  States,  were  much  like  Walworth  in 
their  origin  and  development  ;  and  human  nature  was  and  is  the  same  in  all  ol 
them.  Walworth  included.  But  there  were  little  lines  in  the  lives  of  the  earlier 
men  and  women  of  Walworth  that  are  yet  of  some  human  interest  to  their 
descendant-  and  successors.  To.,  little  can  be  recovered  of  lives  Ion-  gone  to 
make  each  one's  tale  over-tedious.  for  mosl  of  them,  little  more  than  the 
length  of  a  tombstone  inscription  remains,  but   for  us  that  little  differentiates 


AUTHOR  S    PREFACE. 

Walworth  from  Rock  and  McHenry  and  all  the  other  counties  of  the  Union 

and  the  Dominion. 

[f  this  work  were  our  county  history's  last  word,  far  more  could  with 
reason  be  required  of  it  than  is  herein  performed.  A  little,  no  doubt,  worth 
another  workman's  consideration,  is  added  to  the  store  of  historic  material. 
It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  lesser  divisions  of  the  volume  the  town-  art- 
taken  in  their  alphabetical  order  for  their  readier  finding.  Citizen-  of  each 
town  of  whom  nearly  nothing  was  learned  but  their  names  and  a  date  or  two 
for  each,  are  named  with  their  towns.  They  of  whom  more  detail  was  found 
are  placed  in  alphabetical  order  as  a  county  list. 

It  would  be  pleasing  to  acknowledge  explicitly  all  the  favors  shown  by 
old  and  new  friends,  official  and  unofficial:  but  the  tally-list  would  be  very  long. 
and  omissions  would  seem  coldly  careless  if  not  intentional.  No  person,  how- 
ever, can  make  even  a  barely  passable  local  history  without  that  kindly  co- 
operation nowhere  to  be  found  more  intelligent  and  willing  than  in  "glorious 
old  Walworth." 

Albert  C.  Beckwith. 
Elkhorn,  July  15,  1912. 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE 


All  life  and  achievement  is  evolution;  present  wisdom  comes  from  past 
experience,  ami  present  commercial  prosperity  has  come  only  from  past  exer- 
tion and  suffering.  The  deeds  and  motives  of  the  men  that  have  gone  before 
have  been  instrumental  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  later  communities  and 
states.  The  development  of  a  new  country  was  at  once  a  task  and  a  privi- 
lege. It  required  great  courage,  sacrifice  and  privation.  Compare  the  pres- 
ent conditions  of  the  people  of  Walworth  county.  Wisconsin,  with  what  they 
were  one  hundred  years  ago.  From  a  trackless  wilderness  and  virgin  land. 
it  has  come  to  be  a  center  of  prosperity  and  civilization,  with  millions  of 
wealth,  systems  of  railways,  grand  educational  institutions,  splendid  indus- 
tries and  immense  agricultural  and  mineral  productions.  Can  any  thinking 
person  be  insensible  to  the  fascination  of  the  study  which  discloses  the 
aspirations  and  efforts  of  the  early  pioneers  who  so  strongly  laid  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  has  been  reared  the  magnificent  prosperity  of  later  days5 
To  perpetuate  the  story  of  these  people  and  to  trace  and  record  the  social, 
political  and  industrial  progress  of  the  community  from  its  first  inception 
is  the  function  of  the  local  historian.  A  sincere  purpose  to  preserve  facts 
and  personal  memoirs  that  are  deserving  of  perpetuation,  and  which  unite 
the  present  to  the  past,  is  the  motive  for  the  present  publication.  The  work 
has  been  in  the  hands  of  able  writers,  who  have,  after  much  patient  study 
and  research,  produced  here  the  most  complete  biographical  memoirs  of 
Walworth  count).  Wisconsin,  ever  offered  to  the  public  A  specially  valuable 
and  interesting  department  is  that  one  devoted  to  the  sketches  of  representative 
citizens  of  this  county  whose  records  deserve  preservation  because  of  their 
worth,  effort  and  accomplishment.  The  publishers  desire  to  extend  their 
thanks  to  the  gentlemen  who  have  so  faithfully  labored  to  this  end.  Thanks 
are  also  due  to  the  citizens  of  Walworth  county  for  the  uniform  kindness  with 
which  they  have  regarded  this  undertaking  and  for  their  many  services  ren- 
dered in  the  gaining  of  necessary  information. 

In  placing  "Beckwith's  History  of  Walworth  County,  Wisconsin,"  before 
the  citizens,  the  publishers  can  conscientiously  claim  that  they  have  carried  out 
the  plan  as  outlined  in  the  prospectus.  Every  biographical  sketch  in  the 
work  ha-  been  submitted  to  the  part)  interested,  lor  correction,  and  therefore 
any  error  of  fact,  if  there  he  any.  is  solel)  due  to  the  person  lor  whom  the 
sketch  was  prepared.  Confident  that  our  effort  to  please  will  fully  meet  the 
approbation  of  the  public,  we  are, 

Respectfully. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I— PRE-GLACIAL  EPOCH— GEOLOGY 25 

Facts   Derivable   from    Geological    Surveys— Rock    Measurements     Underlying 
Strata — Glaciers  and  their  Traces. 

CHAPTER   [I— NATURAL   FEATURES 29 

Surface   of   the   County — Heights  Above    Sen    Level— Prairies,    Openings   and 
Forests — Water    Courses — Lakes    ami    Their    Soundings     Natural    Products 
Timber— Climate — A  Memorable  Season. 

CHAPTER   III— INDIANS— MOUNDS— GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES  38 

Indian  Occupation — British  Direcl  Native  Hostility  -Black  Hawk     Chief  Big 
foot — Mounds  and  Relics — Geographical  Names  and  Their  Origin. 

CHAPTER   IV— SETTLEMENT  OF  THE   OLD   NORTHWEST 42 

Conditions    Surrounding    First    Settlers— Character    of    the    Pioneers     Birth- 
places of  Earliest  Men  of  Walworth. 

CHAPTER  V— SURVEYS— GENEVA  LAKE  TROUBLE  W 

Contest    at    Lake  Geneva — Christopher    Payne    Claim-marks     Peace    Restored 
—Arrivals  al  Other  Towns — The  First  Settler    Contested  claims     Land  Sales. 

'CHAPTER    VI— POLITICAL    ORGANIZATION 53 

Wisconsin  Admitted  to  Statehood     Location  of  Walworth  County    Organiza- 
tion of  Towns — Congressional  and   Legislative  Districts    Judicial  Circuits. 

CHAPTER    VII— POLITICAL    REPRESENTATION 58 

First  Representatives  In  the  General   Assembly-   First   County  Officers    First 
Meeting  of  the  Board   of  Commissioners-   First    Grand    and    iviit    Jurors 
Extracts  from  the  Records. 

CHAPTER    VIII     COUNTS    BUILDINGS   AND    POOR    FARM     64 

Commissioners  select    Location   for  County   Seat     Firs!    C a    House    Second 

Court    lions.-     Second   Jail   and    Register's  Office    Present    Court    House    The 
Present    Jail     -Fire   Proof   Vaults     Care   for    the    Poor. 

CHAPTER  IX-  THE  BENCH  AND  BAR  72 

Hon.  David  Irvin— Journal  of  the  First    Day's  Proceedings   in  Court     Earlj 
Jurors— Roll   of   Attorneys,    1839  18    Judges   of   the    First    Circuit     Attorneys 

from  1848 — Jury  Commissioners. 

CHAPTER    X     OFFICIAL     ROSTER ">'■> 

Eminent    Men    from    Walworth     Constitutional    Conventions     Probate    Judges 

— County  Judges    Court  Commissioners    State  Senators    Members  of  Assem 
biy— Chairmen  of  Count]  Board  of  Suiiervlsort     Count]  Clerks    Count]  Treas 


CONTENTS. 

urers — Sheriffs — Clerks  of  the  Circuit  Court — District  Attorneys — Registers  of 
Deeds — County  Surveyors — Superintendents  of  School — Superintendents  of 
Poor  and  Insane. 

CHAPTER  XI— DIVISIONS  OF  POLITICAL  PARTIES 97 

Party  Lines  Clearly  Drawn  in  Early  Elections — Early  Election  Returns — Sub- 
sequent Political  Ratio — Progress  of  the  Republican  Party. 

CHAPTER   XII— MILITARY   HISTORY   OF   WALWORTH 104 

Territorial  Militia — The  Sixth  Wisconsin  Regiment — The  Civil  War — Response 
to  the  President's  Call  for  Soldiers — Wisconsin's  Record — Aid  Rendered  by 
Women  and  Non-Combatants — Grand  Army  of  the  Republic — Walworth 
County  Soldiers  and  Sailors'  Association — Soldiers'  Memorial  Roll — Spanish- 
American  War — Enlisted  Men  from  Walworth. 

CHAPTER   XIII— NOTEWORTHY    INSTITUTIONS 158 

Yerkes  Observatory — State  School  for  the  Deaf — State  Normal  School — North- 
western Military  Academy. 

CHAPTER  XIV— WALWORTH  COUNTY  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY 170 

Fair  and  Cattle  Show,  1850 — Subsequent  Fairs — Fair  Grounds — Officers  of  the 
Society. 

CHAPTER   XV— CHURCHES   AND    SCHOOLS 176 

Early  Religious  Meetings — Organization  of  Churches — Baptist  Statistics  for 
1909 — Other  Denominations — Public  Schools — Early  Sentiment  Strong  for 
Education — School   Superintendence- — Present  System. 

CHAPTER   XVI— ROADS   AND   RAILWAYS 183 

Indian  Trails — Highways  Established  by  Legislature—  Present  System — Rail- 
ways— Collapse  of  Some  Early   Railway   Plans — Public   Land   Grants. 

« 

CHAPTER  XVII— COUNTY  HISTORICAL  AND  OLD  SETTLERS  SOCIETIES 193 

Early  Provisions  for  Preservation  of  Local  History — Organization  of  Old  Set- 
tlers' Society — Officers  of  the  Society— Incorporation  of  the  Walworth  County 
Historical    Society — Members. 

CHAPTER  XVIII     LOCAL   EDITORS   AM'   AUTHORS     FINE   ARTS 199 

Writers  of  Earliest   Countj    History    Occasional  Writers — Newspaper  Editors 
Local    Poets — Song    Writers    and     Musical     Composition — The    Palette    and 
Brush — Oratory. 

CHAPTER    XIX     MISCELLANEOUS    ITEMS   OP    INTEREST 209 

Early  Temperance  Societies  Saloon  Licenses — Civic  Societies — Freemasonry 
Lodges,  I'ast  .nil]  Present  Other  Societies  -Turtle  Creek  Drainage  l»istriet 
Troj   Drainage  District     Commissioner  of  Roads— Assessor  of  income  Tax — 

The   Speculative    spirit     Melodrama    in    Court     Early    Educational    Efforts 

Early    Teachers    Noteworthy    Events— Dairy    interests    Early    Births    Early 

Marriages    in   Memoriam-   Losses  by    Fire. 

CHAPTER    XX     TOWN    OF    BL( »)  >M  l'l  l-M.l  > 226 

Origin  of  Name    Natural    Features    Agricultural  Returns  -Population — -First 

Permanent    Settlement      Karly    Families     Civil-war   Soldiers   from    Bloomfleld— 


CONTENTS. 

Town  Officers — Genoa  Junction — Religious  Societies — Commercial  Interests — 
Village  Organization. 

CHAPTER  XXI— TOWN  AND  VILLAGE  OF  DAKIEN 240 

Area — Natural  Features — Statistics — First  Settlers  in  the  Town — Early  Growth 
—Official  Roster. 

CHAPTER    XXII— TOWN    OF    DELAVAN 248 

One  of  the  Original  Civil  Subdivisions — Natural  Features-  Land  Area  Pop- 
ulation— Early  Arrivals — Official  Lists  of  Town  and  City. 

CHAPTER  XXIII— CITY  OF  DELAVAN 257 

Colonel  Phoenix,  the  Founder,  and  Other  Early  Business  Men  Hotels  and 
Taverns — Commercial  Enterprises — Advent  of  Railroads — The  Press — Religious 
Societies — Educational  Interests — Public  Library — Water  Works  Fire  Depart- 
ment— Delavan  Guards — Cities  of  the  Dead — Official  Roster  Postoffice  Historj 
— Population. 

CHAPTER   XXIV— TOWN   OF    EAST   TROY J72 

Description — Natural    Features — Land   Area — First   Settlers — Official    Roster 
Village    of    East    Troy — Churches — Newspapers — Village    Organization     Posl 
office — Public  Houses — Business  Items. 

CHAPTER    XXV— CITY    OF    ELKHORN 286 

Speculative  Enterprise — The  Embryo  City — Early   Coiners— Additions   to   the 
Village — Location  and   General   Natural    Features  of  the  City    Churches   and 
Schools — Business  Interests — Banks  and   Bankers— Brick   and   Tile  Making 
Religious   Societies — Newspapers — Public    Utilities— Official    Roster. 

CHAPTER  XXVI— TOWN  OF  GENEVA 316 

Origin  of  Name— Description  Natural  Features  Area  Population  Land 
Office  Patents — Early  Settlers— Official   Roster. 

•CHAPTER   XX \  II— CITY    OF   LAKE    GENEVA 324 

First  Settlers  at  Geneva  Lake— An  Historic  Contest  and  lis  Outcome — Early 
Owners  of  Land— Taverns  and  Hotels  Other  Early  Comers  Religious  Socle 
ties  Early  Business  Men — Schools  Newspapers  ICoung  Men's  Christian  Ass.. 
ciation — Public  Libraries— Hanks  Waterworks  and  Electric  Lights  Fishing 
and  Navigation— Cemeteries— The  Lake  Shore  Village  and  City  Charters 
Official   Rosters — Population  and   Valuation. 

CHAPTER    XXVIII      TOWN    OF    LAFAYETTE 349 

Description— Xat oral  Features  Agricultural  Statistics  and  Valuation  First 
Immigrants— Land    Entries— Well    Known    Names    in    IM'J     Official    Rostov, 

CHAPTER   XXIX-  TOWN   <  >F   LAGRANGE.    :;:,T 

Natural  Features  s..il  First  l.au.l  Claim  Other  Immigrant  Arrivals  Land 
Entries  -Prominenl  Pioneer  Families  Valuations  und  i  roj  Statistics  Popu 
lation  -official  Roster— Churches. 

CHAPTER    XXX     TOWN    OF    LINN 366 

Origin   of   Name    Area     Natural    Features    Crop    Acreages     first    Settlers 
Official  Roster. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEB    XXXI    -TOWN    OF    LYONS 372 

Naming    of    the    Town — Boundaries — Elevations — First    Settlers — Immigrants 
Of  1840  and  Later  Years — Village  Of  Lynns    -Business  : 1 1 m I   Religious  Interests 
Village     Platted— Village     of     Springfield: — Noteworthy     Events — Statistics 

Official   Boster   of  the   Town      Bcliirioiis    History— Postmasters. 

CHAPTER    XXXII— TOWN    OF    RICHMOND 384 

Location— Natural  Features— Education — The  Pioneers  and  other  Early  Set- 
tiers — The  Nova   Seotian   Settlers— The   Methodist   Chinch— Farm   Statistics 

Population — Official  Roster. 

CHAPTEB    XXXIII— TOWN    OP    SHARON 392 

Location  and  Description — Crop  Acreages — Population — The  First  Comers — 
Laud  Entries— Allen  Grove— Noteworthy  Events — Religious  Societies— Official 
Roster — Tillage  of  Sharon — Schools — Newspapers — Churches — Bank — Ceme- 
tery— Towu  Officers. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV— TOWN  OF  SPRING  PRAIRIE K)5 

Origin  of  Name — Primitive  Condition  of  the  Land— Streams — Land  Area— Crop 
Returns — Population— First   Settlers* — Honey   Creek— Vienna— Voree — Franklin 

Early     Village     Business      Interests —Religious     Societies — Schools — Official 

Roster. 

CHAPTER  XXXV— TOWN  OF  SUGAR  CREEK U8 

Name  Derived  from  Local  Industry— The  First  Settler— Other  Pioneers— A 
Well  Known  Early  Tavern— Tibhets — Churches — Insurance— Land  Area  and 
Crop   Values — Population— Town   Officers.    Past   and    Present. 

CHAPTER    XXXVI— TOWN    OF    TROY I-'1 

One  of  the  Original  Towns— Lakes  and  Water  Courses— Land  Area— Crop  Re- 
turns—Early Settlers— Village  of  Troy— Troy  Center— Local  Interests— May- 
hew— Little  Prairie — Adams— Official  Roster. 

CHAPTEB   XNXYII     TOWN   OF   WALWORTH *S7 

Land  Elevations— Streams— Geneva  Lake— Land  Area— Crop  Statistics— Pop- 
ulation—Early  Settlers— Land  Patents— Postoffices— Churches— Schools— Big 
Foot     Academy— Village     of     Walworth — Fontana — Williams     Bay— Official 

Roster. 

CHAPTER    XXXVIII     TOWN    OF    WHITEWATER '•"' 

Origin  of  Name  Surface  of  the  Land— Lakes  and  Streams— Land  Area— Farm 
Statistics  The  First  Comets  Land  Sales  —  Live  Stock  Breeders  —  Official 
Roster. 

CHAPTEB     XXXIX     CITY    OF    WHITEWATER l,;" 

Early  Use  of  Water  Power  other  Early  Utilities— Town  Organization  Ad 
vent  of  Railroads  Business  Enterprises  Taverns  and  Hotels  Banks  and 
Bankers  Religious  Societies  Education  Libraries  Military  History  Public 
Utilities    Village  Incorporation    official   Roster-  Population. 

CHAPTEB    XL     MAKEBS   OF   THE   COUNT! ,s| 

Biographical  and  Genealogical  Notes  of  Early  and  Prominent  citizens  of  Wal- 
worth County. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    :,7:; 


HISTORICAL  INDEX 


A 

Adams  433 

Agricultural    Society 169 

Allen's    Grove 395 

Art    207 

Assemblymen    58,    84 

Assessor  of  Income  Tax 212 

Attorneys.    1S.39 4S,     74 

Attorneys    from     1848 70 

B 

lt.i|it ist    Societies 176 

Bench   and   Bur 72 

v,\n   Foot   Academy -442 

Bigfoot,    Chief 39 

Biographical    Sketches 481 

Birthday  of  Walworth   County 59 

Birthplaces  of  Pioneers 44 

Births,    Early 217 

Black    Hawk 38 

Bloomfield    Center 231 

Bloomfield,  Town  of 22»'. 

Brick   Clay 33 

C 

Care  tor  the  Poor 71 

Catholic   Missionaries 177 

Chairmen    of    Supervisors 87 

Chicago  &  Northwestern  it.  K.  iv~ 

Chicago,  Mil.  &  St.  P.  K.  It 191 

chief    Bigtool         30 

Circull  Court  Clerks     92 

Circuits,   Judicial 56 

city  of  Delavan    257 

city  of  Blkhorn 286 

city  of  Lake  Genera 324 

City    Of    Whitewater      i60 

Civic     Societies 210 


Chi j    Products        33 

Clerks.    Couiltj        88 

clerks  of  Cirenil  Court 92 

Climate    35 

Colored     Troops   155 

Commissioner     of     UoadS 212 

Commissioners'  Journal 80 

Commissioners'    Records 61 

Congregational    Societies        177 

Congressional    Districts          54 

Constitutional   Conventions s" 

Constitution,   Votes  on s" 

Contest  at   Lake  Geneva 16,  324 

Coroners  91 

county   Agricultural    Society  169 

County     Buildings 64 

County    Clerks vv 

Connty  Commissioners.   First    Meeting  59 

County   Historical   Society 196 

County    House 71 

County     Judges s2 

County  Officers,  First  59 

c.Hinty    Seal    Located   i;l 

County    Surveyors 98 

County    Treasurers sl' 

Court    Commissioners   82 

Court,  First  Terra  of 72 

Court    Bouse,    Firsl        65 

Court    House.    Present                 ,;s 

Court    Bouse,   s ml  65 

Creameries   217 

D 

Dairj     Interests     217 

I  union.   Town    of 240 

|  1,-af.   Slate  s.  I I    for            _„___„  160 

Deaths,    Early       —  221 

Delavan    Churches        263 

Delavan,   City   of  257 


HISTORICAL    INDEX. 


Delavan   Gu;irds 207 

Delavan    Newspapers 261 

Delavan,   Town  of 24S 

District    Attorneys 92 

Districts,     Legislative 54 

Di'ainage  31 

Drainage    Districts -11 

E 

Early    Births 217 

Early    Deaths --1 

Early    Educational   Efforts 214 

Early    Highways 184 

Early     Marriages 219 

Early    Teachers 214 

Early  Temperance  Societies 209 

Early    Trails 1*4 

East  Troy,  Town  of -  272 

East   Troy   Village 279 

Editorship    195 

Educational    Convention Is" 

Educational   Efforts,  Early 214 

Eighteenth    Infantry 134 

Eighth    Infantry 126 

Electric    Lines I'-'l 

Eleventh    Infantry 128 

Elkhorn     286 

Elkhorn    Banks 296 

Elkhorn    Business    Interests 295 

Klkhorn    Churches —  291 

Elkhorn     Located 64 

Elkhorn   Schools    293 

Enlistments    from    Walworth 1L"> 

Episcopal     I'. Irishes 177 

Events  of  Note 215 

Extracts    from     Commissioners'     Iter 
ords    61 

F 

Fair,    the    first  -  169 

Fifteenth     Infantry  133 

Fiftieth    infantry         154 

Fifth    Battery       --  ''-"-' 

Fifth  Infantry        L25 

Fifty-firs!     Infanlr.x  154 

Fifty-Second       Infantry lot 

Fire   Losses  223 

Fire  proof     Vaults        70 


First  and  Third  Batteries 122 

First    Assembly 58 

First    Cavalry 113 

First  Circuit,  .Indies  of 75 

First    County   Officers 59 

First    Court    House 65 

First    Fair 169 

First  Grand  Jurors 73 

First  Heavy  Artillery 120 

First    Infantry 124 

First   Petit  Jurors ''■'■ 

First     Settler 50 

First   Term   of   Court ~- 

Fontana     445 

Fortieth     Infantry 146 

Forty-eighth     Infantry 152 

Forty-fifth     Infantry 150 

Forty-fourth     Infantry 150 

Forty-ninth     Infantry 152 

Forty-second     Infantry 1  (v 

Forty-seventh     Infantry 151 

Forty-sixth      Infantry 150 

Forty-third      Infantry 149 

Fourteenth    Infantry 133 

Fourth     Battery 122 

Fourth    Infantry-Cavalry 117 

Franklin     Postoffice H"-' 

Free  and  Accepted   Masons__  -I11 

G 

Genealogical  Notes 481 

Geneva     Lake    Contest 4(1.  324 

Geneva,  Town  of :;"' 

Genoa    Junction 234 

Geographical    Names.   40 

Glaciers  27 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  210 

II 

Heights    of    Land  29 

Honey   Creek     - •'" 

I 

Indian    Names       •  ' 

Indian  Occupation :;s 

Indian     Trails Is' 

Irvin.  David ''-' 


HISTORICAL    lNI'l   V 


J 

Jail,    Present U'J 

Jail,   Second 67 

Judges   S2 

Judges  of  First  Circuit 75 

Judges  of  Probate 56,  82 

Judicial  Circuits 56 

Jurors.    First ":: 

L 

Lafayette,  Town  of 349 

Lagrange,  Town  of 357 

Lake  Geneva,  City  of o24 

Lake  Geneva  Contest 46,  324 

Lake    Soundings 31 

Lakes 31 

Land,   Heights  of 2!» 

Land   Sales 51 

Legislative    Districts 54 

Linn.  Town  of 366 

Literature 2iM 

Little    Prairie 433 

Location  of  County  Seat 64 

Location  of  Walworth  County 53 

Losses  by  Fire 223 

Lutheran    Churches 17s 

Lyons,  Town  of 372 

Lyons.  Village  of :!7."> 

M 

Makers  of  the  County 481 

Marriages,    Early — 1'-» 

Marshes 30 

Masonry    210 

Mayhew    432 

Melodrama  in  Court 213 

Members  of  Assembly 84 

Memorable  Season 36 

Methodist  Churches 178 

Military  Academy 168 

Military   History 1"! 

Milwaukee  &  Mississippi  R.  R 1st; 

Mounds    39 

N 

Natural   Products     :;:; 

Nineteenth    Infantry 134 


Ninth   Battery 122 

Ninth    Infantry 127 

Normal    School ii;i; 

Noteworthy    Events  215 

Noteworthy    Institutions 15S 

Nova  Scotinn  Settlers 387 

O 

Officers,  First  County   :.:i 

Official  Roster 7n 

Old  Settlers'  Socletj       .__  193 

Oratory    208 

Original    Towns 54 

P 

Peal    33 

Pioneer    Sketches 1M 

Political    Organization 53 

Political   Parties !>7 

Political  Representation 58 

Poor  Farm 71 

Prairies  30 

Pre-glacial  Epoch L'o 

Presbyterian   Churches 177 

Present  Court  House     68 

Present  Jail <>'.» 

Presidents  of  Agricultural  Society-  172 

Probate    Judges 56.  82 

Public     Schools IT'.i 

R 

Railways i  85 

Ratio  of  Votes i"i 

Records  of  Commissioners 61 

Register's   Office '17 

Registers  of  Deeds 93 

Relics     39 

Religious   organizations 17C 

Representatives 58 

Kb  in I.  Town  of .'.si 

Loads    and    Load  -ma  I;  lng__« lsl 

Rock   Liver 80 

Lock    Strata    26 

S 

Sii I  Commissioners,  Work  of  180 

School   for  Deaf    160 


HISTORICAL    INDEX. 


s.-i i  Cavalry 114 

Second   Court   House 05 

Second  Infantry 124 

Second    Jail. 67 

Senators   83 

Settlement  of  .Northwest 42 

Settler,  the  First 50 

Seventeenth    Infantry 134 

Seventh  Battery 122 

Seventh    Infantry 125 

Sharon,  Town  of . 302 

Sharon,   Village  of 400 

Sheriffs   90 

Sixteenth     Infantry 134 

Sixth    Battery 122 

Sixtli     Infantry 125 

Sixth   Wisconsin   Infantry 104 

snow  Blockade 30 

Soldiers'    .Memorial    Roll 112 

Son-    Writers 205 

Spanish-American   War 156 

Speculative    spirit 212 

Spring  Prairie,  Town  of 403 

Springfield,   Village  of 377 

State  Normal   School 166 

Slate   S.hoo!    for    I  leaf 160 

state  Senators 83 

Sugar  Creek,  Town  of 4is 

Superintendents  of  Poor  and  Insane...    95 

Superintendents  of  Schools 94 

Supervisors,  Chairmen  of s~ 

Surface  of  County 20 

Surveyors  1 93 

Swamp    Lands 30 


T 

Teachers,    Early 214 

Tompci.inie   Societies        209 

Tentir  Battery  „_  123 

Tenth   Infantry—: — 127 

Third  Cavalry 116 

Third    Infantry '.  125 

Thirteenth    Battery  123 

Thirteenth    Infantry     129 

Thirtieth     Infantry  I  13 

Thirty-eighth    infantry       146 

Tidily   fifth    Infantry 144 

Tinny  first    Infantry 143 


Thirty-fourth    Infantry 144 

Thirty-ninth   Infantry ltd 

Thirty-second    Infantry 143 

Thirty-seventh    Infantry 145 

Thirty-sixth    Infantry 144 

Thirty-third    Infantry 144 

Timber 34 

Town  of  I'.loomtield 220 

Town   of   Darieu 24l> 

Town  of  Delavan 248 

Town  of  Bast  Troy 272 

Town  of  Geneva 31G 

Town    of    Lafayette -">4!> 

Town  of  Lagrange 357 

Town  of  Linn 366 

Town  of  Lyons 372 

Town  of  Richmond 3S4 

Town  of  Sharon 392 

Town  of  Spring  Prairie 405 

Town  of  Sugar  Creek 41S 

Town  of  Troy 126 

Town   of    Walworth t.:7 

Town   of   Whitewater I'd 

Treasurers,    County 89 

Troy  Center . 431 

Troy    Drainage   Ditch 211 

Troy.    Town    of 426 

Troy    Village '- 430 

Turtle  Creek    Drainage   District 211 

Twelfth    Infantry 129 

Twentieth    Infantry 135 

Twenty-eighth    Infantry 130 

Twenty-fifth    Infantry i L39 

Twenty-fourth    infantry 13!> 

Twenty-ninth   infantry 143 

Twenty-second   Infantry 135 

Twenty-seventh   infantry 139 

Twenty-sixth    infantry 139 

Twenty-third    Infantry L39 

V 

Vaults,    County        70 

Henna   110 

Village  of  Eas(  Troj     279 

Village  of  Lyons     375 

Village  of  Sharon h"> 

Village  of  Springfield    -"'77 

Village    of    Troy    430 


HISTORICAL    [NDEX. 


Voree   . 410 

Votes  on  Constitution 80 

Votes,    Ratio   of 10] 

W 

Walworth  County,  Location 53 

Walworth  County     Agricultural     So- 
ciety    16!) 

Walworth  County  Soldier  and  Sailors' 

Association    111 

Walworth.  Town  of 487 


War   Meetings 107 

Water    Courses      30 

Whitewater,  City  of 160 

Whitewater,  Town  of i~>i 

Williams    Bay 146 

Wisconsin  Centra)  R.  E 189 

Wisconsin     Troops 107 

Writers  of  Local    History !!)!» 

Y 

YerUes  Observatory 158 


BIOGRAPHICAL  INDEX 


A 

Abbott,  Francis  X 655 

Abell,  Stephen  B S06 

Ackley,  Albert  H 1136 

Adkins,   Henry  DeL 59S 

Adsit,  Miley '■''■"'' 

Agern,  John 750 

i.  Francis  G 1119 

Allen,    George 914 

Allen,  George  R vr'T 

m,  John  S S53 

.  Walter 913 

Allvn.  Alexander  IT 1046 

Alr'ick,   A.  K 12T9 

Utenburg,  Charley  E 1  I |s 

Amborn,  Anion  H 954 

Ames.   Erastus  H 1":;' 

Andrus,   Francis  T 1005 

Arnold,    Cassius    F '-'Is 

Atkinson,    Josephus 1  '  '-' 

Ayer,   Edward   E 1  |v:> 

Ayers,   Henry  W ,;|s 

B 

•k.  James  w.       

er,  Charles  II 

i:     er,    Harvey  

B   ker,    Louis  C '■'7:; 

Baker,  S'u n  F 1406 

Barfield,    Josiah n  "; 

Barker,    D.   B.     1  IT' 

B: Dwight    B 924 

Barnes,   Henry   D l,l": 

Barrett,]  

Bartholomew,  Arthur  H 1435 

Baumann,    B.  J ''", 

Baumbach,    William,    Jr l"sl 

Beach,   Benjamin  H 

I-.,    ch,  William   W 1382 


Bciirdsley,    Hern !, 

Albert 1351 

kwith,  Albert  i '.  :'";; 

■s,     Willi. mi  1437 

Hiram    s.  1072 

Bennett,    Francis    A.     I  159 

Beseeker,  Charles  <> L0 

Best,  William  F ,;,;' 

Bill,  Benjamin  .1 90S 

Bilyea,  Clarence  E..   -  v,;l 

Bhn  kman,   Charles    VI.       ss" 

Bloi  dg I,   Fred   R.        1205 

in,   F.  -I.   '•"•'■':' 

Bollinger,    Daniel  "-" 

Bollinger,   Jacob     ss:' 

788 

i.  John   W. 

Boyle,  Henry ' 1:;:; 

hazou,  Charles   S.     '"', 

Bradley,  Henrj  :,v:' 

Bradley,    William    W 

Brennan,  John  C.     (;-' 

Brett,  James  E 

Briggs,  Herman  A ' ' '-' 

Brigham,   Emerson   A. 1283 

tol,  C.  R.  941 

H r  '-"" 

Brown,  Albert  '•'•''-' 

,.   Emerj   J.     

Brown,  George  W.        '308 

Brown,  James,  Jr.  ' ,sl 

Brown,  Lewis  G. 

Brown,  William  C 

Brown,    William  v:;' 

Bin  i  i i  r:  nklin    A.  "  ' 

II 

II,   Henry   C  '■'"'• 

Bullock,  Arthur  G. 

Bm  o  y\ 

Burdlck.    Hugh    A.  "  >■"■ 


BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX. 


Burgit,  James  D 1450 

Burns,  Carlos  H 1407 

Burton,  Charles  R 1355 

Burton,  John  E 100S 

Busbman,  John M79 

C 

Camp,  James  II 70L 

Campbell,   Lewis  A 1075 

Carey,  Julian  M 668 

Ceylon  Court 004 

Chapin,  John 652 

Chatfield,   Seneca  B 997 

i  ihlld,   James 142:; 

( Ihristie,    George 13:27 

Church,  Cyrus 933 

Church,    Leonard   C 1136 

Church,   Ray   C S95 

Clancey,  Lawrence 1452 

Clark,   Charles  M 1192 

Clark.  John  D 138S 

( 'line,   Leopold 1104 

Clohisy,  Arthur 730 

Coates,  Oscar  1' 1399 

Cobb,  Robert  C 636 

Coburn,    Addison    A 1  ^u  1 

Cocroft,    Harry   E 688 

Cocroft,  Joseph  E 698 

Colbo,    John 845 

Colburn,    Archibald 822 

Conley,  Stephen  E 966 

Conry,     Bernard 958 

Cook,  l>.  S.      127] 

look.    Franklin    J 1471 

Cock.   Lewis  L 1263 

Cook.    Seymour    A (175 

Cooley,    Rufus 1256 

Coon,   Harlow    \1.  1310 

Cooper,  Charles  S 1321 

Cowles,    Elmer    E 1070 

Cowles,   Fred  D 1036 

Cox,   William  J i__1282 

Crandall,   George   B 875 

Crane.    E.  .1.    limo 

Crites,  J.  L 1457 

Crumb,   George  A 1274 

Crumb,   Russell  E 896 

Curran,   .lames   s < >s i 

<  lurtls,    Levi  is L363 


Curl  is,     Walter 076 

Cusark,     Frank 681 

Cusack,    John 1481  > 

Cusack,  M.  E . 134S 

D 

Dalrymple,  Hilas  H 950 

Dalton,   Henry  J 1143 

Davidson,  Ebenezer iv.V2 

Davis,   .lames  B 13(13 

Davis,    Ruthford    D 1301 

Dawley,  William  J 14n3 

Delaney,   .John   W 1390 

DeLong,   William   E 1482 

Denison,  Edmund  D '■'.('• 

Denison,   John   W 1228 

Derthick,  John  II 1157 

Desing,  August   F 734 

Desing,    John 749 

Dewire,  M.   V 955 

DeWitt,    William   H 1198 

1  lickerman,    Walter 1430 

Dickinson,  .Nathan 899 

I  lodge,    Eugene 1170 

Doolittle,   .lames  B 1028 

Dopke,  Charles  II 1078 

Douglass,  Carlos  L 1376 

Douglass,  Carlos  S 1362 

Douglass,   Horace  G 574 

Drake,  Brewster  B 1029 

Dunham,  David  T lis:: 

Dunham,  George. 991 

I  Minn.  Edward  K 836 

1  num.   Patrick 1069 

Dunphy,  John 1122 

E 

Karnes,  Francis  II 587 

Ebert,    Ferdinanl   1428 

IVkerson.   Willis   1) 1339 

Ells.    C.    W 1280 

Ells.     F.     W 1280 

Ells,  George  W 852 

Ellsworth,    Fred    L 1379 

Ellsworth,    Stewart  D 1383 

I'.iigeliretsen.     Edward lL'l'l 

Erwin,  William  A 840 


BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX. 


F 

Faiivhild,    Daniel 710 

Faircbild,  David  L 1163 

Fairchild,  Nelson 713 

Featherstone,  Marshall  M F'.'-'t; 

Febry,   William 855 

Fellows,  Theodore  A 715 

Fellows,  Timothy  H L_  703 

Ferry,  Chester  A 1019 

Fish,  Charles  R 11S1 

'Fish.  Howard  E 1319 

Fish,  Jasper   M 816 

Fish.   .Silas  B 1090 

Flack.   John   G 791 

Fleming,  Charles  G 1148 

Foote.   Lucien  A 68 1 

Foster,  Asa 1369 

Fountaine,  Charles 13S7 

Francis,    Henry :i|> 

Francisco,  Newton  O IT-"1 

Fraser,   Alexander 1444 

Fraser,  James  W 1447 

Freeman.  Arthur  H 1022 

French,  Charles  S 825 

Frey,  Jacob  C 1113 

Frieker,  Alfred  H ' 819 

Fryer,  John  H 1218 

Funic,  John  L 1440 

G 

Gage,  Charles  H si^ 

Garbutt,   John 810 

Gates,  Charles  M ^-,; 

Gavin,  James  L 805 

Gibbs,  Charles  B L232 

Gifford,    Ezra 642 

Goelzer,    John sss 

Goff,  Sidney  C :''-':' 

Gould,  Jay   B 1340 

Graydon,  John  R '  154 

Greene,  Charles  P '  '"'•' 

Greene,    Porter . 1358 

Grunewald,    John ^:;:' 


II 


Hat's.    Andrew    \V. 
Hall,    John 


|S., 

93S 


Halverson  Bros.  Co 1240 

Halverson,    G 1240 

Halverson,  11.  L 1241 

Halverson,  M.  G 1240 

Halvorsen,  II.  T 668 

Hamilton,  Herbert  O 1276 

Hammersley,  William  II.,  Sr 848 

Hanson,    Albert    M 1208 

Harmon,  William 1401 

Harrington,  George  L 872 

Harrington,    Grant    D 1062 

Harris,  John  H 000 

Hatch,   Hobart   M 687 

Hatch,  Seymour  ft 708 

Hawes,   I..  Edmund 1216 

Heagman,   Albert   S 1352 

Helling,   Carl 1394 

Henderson,  John  F 1264 

Henn,    Frank   L 905 

Hennessey,    James 992 

Hibbard,  Elijah  T 865 

Higbee,   William  S 963 

Higgins,   Francis  M 789 

High,    Charles 706 

Hitchcock,   Amos  H -  1243 

Hodges,     William 1  121 

Hoffman,  John   II 640 

Hoge,    aii..-i  1 712 

Holcomb,  Willis  P 1083 

Hollister,  G.   Hart 1139 

Hollister,  J.  J 1203 

lb, IN. way.    W.   V;  B 659 

Holmes,    Russell ''-'■'• 

Honian,    Bartholomew 643 

Hooper,  Edmund  J r,s| 

Host,    Ernest    J U45 

Host,   Walter  R 680 

Hubbard,  Frank  A 1127 

Hurey,  George  W 1285 

Ilnth     II. nth 1472 

Hutton,  Co,, iirc 1366 

I 

[ngalls,    Jerome  l|,;,; 

Infills,     Join,     I' U85 

S,l,  It" 

[saac,   Morris 1149 

[ves,   Clinton    F.   :'n| 


BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX. 


J 

Jennings,   John  T 731 

Johnson,  David  D 112S 

Johnson,  Edgar  M 1088 

Johnston,  William  H 844 

K 

Kachel,  John  C 1215 

Kachel,   T.  A 1219 

Kellogg,    George   O 727 

Kendrick,  Ansel  H 1049 

Kimball,    Henry 686 

Kimball,  Lewis  A 672 

King,   Oscar  A 149] 

Kinne,   Edward 1261 

Kinyon,    William    C 630 

Kiser,   F.  Henry 1204 

Ki slmer.   George 1286 

Kizer,  Fernando  C 1230 

Kline.    Philip 959 

Kneiert,  diaries 1002 

Kniep,    Peter 1477 

Knutson,  Knute  G 1007 

Kohn,    John "::•_' 

Kohn,  Lawrence  C Tin 

Kohn,  Phillip  IT 747 

Koeppen,    William ini' 

Krahn,    August 1195 

Krause,  August 697 

Kroenke,    Carl    F 1458 

Krohn,   Bernhard  A 1026 

Hull.    Andrew 592 

Knll.  Charles  J 798 

Knl I.    Grover 1116 

Knll,  .T.'lm  M 1079 

L 
I    i  l:.ir,     Daniel     E L039 

i   ickey,  Thomas 129S 

Ladd,  i>ren  E 923 

Lake,    Elder   Phipps  W 936 

I  nl  e    ■  iem  <  i    Sanitariums 1490 

Lav  I       rles  7S4 

Lawson,   Frank   E 813 

Lawson,    John  891 

Lawton,  Herbert  X 1020 

■     '     Roberl    J 751 


Lean.  Thomas  E 1209 

Ledger,   Walter  E 092 

Lindsay,  H.  E 1210 

Lockwood,  William  H 832 

Long,    Hugh    D 878 

Loomer,  Isaac  S 1191 

Loveland,  Treasure  K 1397 

Lowell,  Angevine  D 980 

Luedtke,  August 620 

Lyon,    Jay    F 576 

Mc 

McCabe,    ciiarles 1316 

m.i  ai.e.    Richard 131  S 

McDougall,    John    S 800 

McKenzie,    Frank 1  163 

McKinney,    A.   E 871 

M. Milieu.  Robert  G 1269 

M 

Maas,    Jacob 1096 

Mack,   diaries   W 1391 

Halany,    Legrand   F 1162 

Mallory,   Henry  I 1123 

Malsch,  Fred—! s;:i 

Malsch,  Herman ~s7 

Markel,    William    J 906 

Mail  in,    .Miss    Helen 612 

Martin.  James  'I" L0I 

Massey.     William     E 682 

Matheson,  Alexander  E 654 

Matheson,  Donald  F 1373 

Matheson,   John    645 

Watteson,    Cyrua   A 826 

Mayer,   John    1403 

Mayhew,   Milton  M 842 

Maxon,    Austin   C 1331 

Maxon,    .Jesse    G 1335 

Maxon,   Nathan  D 1040 

Meadows,  John  G 1115 

Means,    James loo  I 

Meister,    enslave 618 

Melges,   August- i 

Mereness,    Clarence     v:'" 

Mereness,    llemau 799 

Merwin,   George   II 

Millar.    Edward     920 

Miller,   Edward 701 


BIOGR  APHICAT.    INDEX. 


MiUer,    Louis 1243 

Miller.  William   1 1131 

.Mills.   OTlin   H 1455 

Mitchell,  Benjamin  F 846 

Mitchell,  John 143S 

Mohr.    Henry 918 

Moore,  Frank  S 793 

Moran,    Martin 856 

Morgan,  John  I 965 

Morrison,  Smith  B 742 

Morrissey,    Maurice 1 165 

Mott,    Alfred    SS6 

Munson,   Charles  H S93 

N 

Nicholas,  Father  James 624 

Nichols,  Levi  A 594 

Nokes,  Albert  J 879 

Norris,  Harley  C 1084 

North,   Charles   H 638 

Norton.   William   C 1060 

Nott,  Charles  H 1266 

O 

O'Brien,   Harold   X 1257 

O'Dell,   l.armer  G 1130 

O'Leary,   Arthur 1446 

ule 1393 

■  .ti.l.   Joseph    II 951 

P 

e,    Edward    1> L260 

Page,   Jay   W H71 

Palmer,    Alexander    s 910 

Palmer,  Byron   S.   628 

Palmer,   Edwin   E 650 

Palmer,    William    E tin 

Papenfus,    Emil S64 

Parker,    B.    Ii 1207 

Passage,   William   T 1043 

ce,   George   D 677 

Peck,  Charles  i.   614 

I'-  k,  George  P 1396 

Pendergast,   John   W 1167 

rs,  Edward  A 1247 

Peterson,  Albert    E.     662 

Peterson,  Alraon   L 690 


Peterson,  Miss  Anna Pi's 

Peterson,   Elmer  A 1238 

Peterson,    Michael   X L307 

Peterson,    Peter ptl: 

Peterson,  Peter  <; s-i 

Pelrie.    Klry    C-    7-1 

Phelps.  Sherman  P .1465 

Phillips,  11.  1' 917 

Phillips.    Lewis    1' 1024 

Phillips,   Volney  D 1024 

Pierce.     II       PeloS 1 

Pohl,  John  L389 

Porter,   Doric  C 1325 

Porter,   Lester  C 1323 

Potter,  Charles  E 1213 

P.. Her,  Charles  H 862 

Poller,  Joseph 1  162 

Powers,  Richard 602 

Pramer,   fc'remom    P 981 

Price,  Edwin  G 691 

PrudameS,    Charles   a 957 

Puller,  George  E L419 

Pugh,  Thomas  II 976 

Plirdy,    Perry    1..    1269 

B 

Randall,  George  E 1475 

Randall,  William    P l"77 

Rauney,    Perry   C 987 

Reader,  I  ■•■  i John 1342 

Reader,  John   P. 1035 

Render,  J.  -I 882 

Redenius,   -l.    IP  828 

Reek,  -i: -   S.      7ni 

Reinert,    Edward    C 795 

Reiuert,   Malcb  &   Baumbacb L270 

Rentier,    John 

Rej  aolds,   Benoni  i »..    

Reynolds,  Ji < i;,;' 

Reyuolds,  Merriotl   B,  

i ,is.   Horace  S ,;l" 

piiini    ,    ■    i  

Rivers,   Jo ' 

Robers,    Henrj     v.  

Robinson,  Alh  - 1   - 

Rockwell,    Henry-     1242 

Rockwell,    LeGrand,   Jr -   1159 

Rockwell     I  I     Sr,  U60 


BIOGRAPHICAL    INDEX. 


Rodawalt,  Stephen 1253 

Rodman,   Andrew   J 047 

Rodman,    WillanI 902 

Rogers,    Harold,  H 1184 

Romare,   Oscar  E 1293 

Ross,   Bion   C SOS 

Ruehlman,  Christian  F.  W 1245 

Russell,    John 1054 

Russell.    Thomas 1054 

S 

Sage,  Chancy  L 1045 

Salisbury,    Albert 779 

Schmidter,    Nathaniel 1441 

Schulz,  Julius  F.  W 960 

Schulz,    William 1111 

Schutt,    Herman los7 

Schwartz,  John  A i:;44 

Seaver,  William  r 1346 

Seymour,   John   V 1187 

Sharp,  John 1030 

Shaver,  Henry  J 1412 

Sherman,  Curtis  II 663 

Sherman,  Ervin  O 889 

sikes.  Charles  A.  894 

Skeels,   John   G 025 

skiii.    Benjamin   F 1182 

Smith,  Allien  E 1140 

Smith,  Alfred  D L370 

Smith,  Alfred  J 616 

Smith,   (  barles  a 1420 

Smith,  Airs.  Elizabeth  if 887 

Smith,   Esefc    I  >.      1180 

Smith,    Fred  J.__.. 982 

Smith,  George  II 1432 

Smith,    Herman    F 1164 

Smith,  Oliver  I..     :i.",i 

Smith,    Richard         S74 

Smnk.    Adam 829 

Snyder,  John  II..  Jr 583 

Southwick,    Oliver.  P.   12S7 

Southwick,  William  II !>71 

Spaight,    John I  ici 

Spensley,   Mrs.   Eliza 1337 

Spensley,    Robert   i;::'.s 

Sporbeck,    G 'ge    W.  1277 

Sprackllng,   Charles    v.    n.  1226 

Stafford,    Samuel    II.     796 

Stam,  Joseph  L295 


Stanford,  DeWitt 1086 

Starin,    Frederick   J 1212 

Stoneall,  Joseph 695 

Stopple,   Herman  I 1171 

Stopple,   Isaac.  Jr 1099 

Stopple,   Isaac,   Sr 1112 

Stork,  Albert 1474 

Stradinger,  Oottlob  J 1405 

Stubbs,   Charles   H 1117 

Stupfell,  .1.  P. 967 

Snessmilch.   Ernst   L.   von 1173 

Sumner,  Charles  B 11T>1 

Sutherland.  Herbert  E 1056 

Swartz,  Oliver  P 1468 

T 

Tappen,  George  T 720 

Taylor,   Benton   B 1385 

Taylor,   George   G 1025 

Taylor,    Guy    M 11GS 

Taylor,  John  H 1095 

Taylor.    Ora    P !>7l 

Taylor,   William  T 978 

Teetshorn,    Fern    S 851 

Terrace,  Otto  Y S33 

Thayer,    Henry    E iniil 

Thiele,    Henry   F 1222 

Thomas,    R.    II 940 

Thorpe,  .lames  ,i X476 

Tobin,   John    T 1171 

Trail.    Ralph 1235 

Tubbs,  Willis  J 1092 

Tuft,    1  'avid 12-"i2 

Turner,   Thomas  W 1375 

Tyrrell,    William    H ln;,i 

D 

Filer.  Clarence  F 1272 

Filer.  John  W 129] 

V 

Van  siy.-k.  George  W 802 

Van  Volzer.    George    M 1315 

\  .mVelzor.   Philander   K 1100 

Vnitz.    Herman.  1068 

V.'SS,   .Inllll   G 1400 

Voss.  John  1 1 1  in 


BIOGRAPHICAL    [NDEX. 


w 

Wade,    Henry    II 1312 

Wagner,   John 1105 

Walker,  Oliver  II 622 

Walsh.    Frank U  ^,; 

Walters,    Eugene   A 921 

Walworth    State   Hank 820 

Watrous,  Edward  B 1360 

Weaver,   Silas  K 1328 

Webb,   Sylvester  T 1179 

Webster,  Joseph  P 1152 

Weeks,  -Mrs.  Esther  Ann 1268 

AYeeks.  Lewis  S 1269 

W.-eks.  Martin  W 1125 

Weeks,    Spencer    1107 

Weeks,  Wilbur  G 1102 

Welnhoff,  Father  John  J 1104 

Welch.    John 860 

Welch,  Seymour  II 1-:'L 

Weld.  John   W 1248 

Welsher,   II.  J 94:6 

Wendt,  Frederick 1  l-"'l 

Wost.   Ernest  A 835 

West,     Frank l"-:: 

Wost.   Mark  H 1367 

West,  Walter  A 724 

Westphall,  Charles  D 1 1":; 

Wheeler.    Isaac   I' 898 

While.  Edgar  E 1296 

White.    Henry   H 656 

White,  Jay   II 1384 

Whiting,  William  H 700 


Wilcox.   Thomas  II 7::-~ 

Wilear,   William   H 1469 

Ins,  Albert   1' 812 

Williams.     Charles     M 1201 

Williams.  Edward  E 578 

Williams.    F.    H 1233 

Willi:. Mt-.  Royal  J L416 

Williams,  Thomas  F !>l- 

Williams.   William    11.    1259 

\\  iiiiamson.    Andrew 1033 

Wilmer,    August 1  133 

w  ilmer,    Bernard '  l-"'1 

Wilmer,  Charles  B L427 

Wilson.  John  G 1334 

Winn,    Henry 1278 

Winn.    John    II 1003 

Winter,    Charles    949 

Winter.  Frederick  C 1353 

Wisconsin  Butter  &  Cheese  Co.     —     590 

Wiso.  Jonas  B s|v 

Wiswell,   Charles   II 1233 

\v ieoi c ' 

Wormood,   Frederick  E 746 

Wright,  Benjamin  F 1313 

Wright,   Merrick 868 

Wurth,   Charles   H 1"'-'l 

Wyiio.  George  W 1426 

Wylie,    Herbert    F 1424 

Z 

Zaspel,  oiio  R._   '  W7 

Zuiii.  David  E 1229 


OUT-L_jrsJE;       MAP       OF" 

WAILWSRTIK)  ©©TOW,  WIK 


JEFFES5QIN  COUNTY 


state:      of-      illinoi: 


HISTORICAL 


CHAPTER   I. 

PRE-GLACIAL  EPOCH — GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIONS. 

A  few  of  the  more  plainly  told  facts  or  statements  derivable  from  the 
state  and  federal  geological  surveys  may  at  least  provisionally  account  for 
the  present  face  of  Walworth  county.  In  a  prc-glacial  age  (its  beginning 
and  end  not  to  be  more  nearly  estimated  in  calendar  years  than  arc  Mar  dis- 
tances in  statute  miles)  the  rock  floor  of  the  southern  tiers  of  Wisconsin 
counties  was  of  latest  formation  and  uplifting  from  the  dark  waste  of  waters. 
As  to  that  backward-stretching  segment  of  eternity,  geology  is  at  one  with 
Genesis:  "The  earth  was  without  form  and  void;  and  darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep."  At  the  beginning  of  the  period  called  "eocene" — 
morning  of  life — and  by  American  writers  also  named  Laurentian,  an  almost 
solitary  island  of  granite  or  crystalline  rock's,  in  outline  a  mdely  made  V, 
covered  most  of  Labrador,  a  large  part  of  Quebec  and  Ontario,  and  the  more 
northerly  province  of  Kewatin.  It  had  its  lower  point  near  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  and  it  enclosed  between  its  arms  a  larger  I  tudson's 
bay. 

Apparently   rent   from  uthern  point  was  a  much     mallei        md, 

lying  mostly  within  the  present  limits  o  consin,  bul   including  pari 

the  upper  Michigan  peninsula.    Thus  early  began  the  relation  hip  of  thi 
states,  ending  geographically  and  politically  in  [836.    Besides  th< 

iller  islands,  and  excepting  the  two  relatively  narrow   1  rked 

the  lines  of  the  Appalachian  and  the  Rock)  Mountain  systems,  .-ill  on  tl 
tinent.  from  Alaska  to  Panama.  an  unlighted,  fishless,  innavigabh 

The  rocky  materials  of  the  1  Ided 

and   in  other  ways  distorted  by  upheaval,    and.    perhaps,  b;  ub- 

nce,  rose  to  far  greater  heights  than  arc  now   I  1  be  seen  on  earth.     II 
high  they  wen-  is  only  inferred  by  widely  varying 
but  uncertain  depth  and  breadth  the  later  sedimentary  and  cal 


26  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

posits  formed  by  nature's  continent-making  agencies,  in  great  part,  at  least, 
from  the  disintegrated  and  recomposed  materials  of  those  overtowering  ranges 
and  peaks.  The  thickly-shrouding  vapors  which  had  long  shut  out  the  light 
of  sun  and  stars  were  condensed  to  water  that  gathered  itself  into  destructive 
torrents,  and  the  acid-laden  atmosphere  waited  like  an  obedient  servant  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  flood.  There  were  other  helps  doubtless,  but  their  dim 
and  confused  record  is  best  translated  or  hypothetically  explained  by  patiently- 
observing  and    ingeniously-conjecturing  geologists. 

When  the  solid  foundation  was  laid  the  surface  of  the  county  was  left 
far  from  even.  At  several  points  within  the  county  borders  the  upper- 
lying  rock  has  been  found,  by  measurement  of  deep  wells,  at  heights  above 
sea  level  ranging  say.  between  480  and  870  feet — or  from  100  feet  below  to 
nearly  300  feet  above  the  level  of  Lake  Michigan.  Great  variation  of 
height  has  been  found  at  points  but  a  mile  or  less  apart.  The  bottom  of 
the  low-lying  pre-glacial  Troy  valley  was  found  at  480  to  500  feet;  in  East 
Tro_\  and  Spring  Prairie  at  530  to  820  feet;  in  Lyons  and  Bloomfield  at  643 
to  8  11 1  feel  :  in  Troy  and  Lafayette  at  480  to  840  feet:  in  Geneva  and  Linn  at 
700  to  870  feet  :  in  LaGrange  and  Whitewater  at  (:>6^  to  850  feet;  in  Sugar 
Creek  and  Richmond  at  600  to  830  feet:  in  Darien  and  Sharon  at  780  to 
810  feel  :  in  Delavan  and  Walworth  at  500  to  800  feet;  at  Elkhorn  810  feet. 
These  measurements,  though  too  few  and  perhaps  too  inexact  for  a  sailing 
chart,  may  show  that  the  following  glacial  movements  and  meltings  left  the 
surface  of  the  county  much  better  graded  for  its  present  uses.  An  ideal 
column  of  under  lying  strata,  as  shown  by  the  state's  geologist  is.  in  order 
of  til 

1.  Granite  or  crystalline  rocks. 

2.  Huronian    (iron-bearing)    rocks. 

3.  Potsdam  sandstone. 

4.  Lower  magnesian  limestone. 

5.  St.  Peter's  sandstone. 

6.  Trenton  and  <  ralena  limestone. 

7.  Cincinnati  (Hudson  River)  shale. 

8.  Niagara  limestone. 
11.  (  facial  drift. 

For  more  than  one-half  of  the  county  the  Niagara  stratum  is  wanting, 
and.  as  depicted  on  geological  charts*  a  ribbon-like  belt  of  Cincinnati  shale 
(dipping  toward  Lake  Michigan  1  divides  it  from  the  Trenton  and  Galena 
formation.     The  shale  bell   reaches   from  the   Illinois  line,  by  way  of  Linn 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  2J 

and  Walworth  town-line,  to  the  Troys,  whence  its  course  is  toward  the  north 
east  corner  of  the  eastern  town. 

It  is  not  to  be  known  how  many  ice  sheets  have  successivel}  covered 
some  part  or  all  of  the  county's  area,  but  the  so-named  Green  Bay  and  Lake 
Michigan  glaciers  brought  the  lower  loop  of  the  great  Kettle  moraine  into 
the  northern  part  of  Lagrange  and  Whitewater.  An  attendant  or  soon  fol- 
lowing offshoot  of  the  latter-named  glacier  moved  across  Milwaukee.  Wau- 
kesha, Racine  and  Kenosha  counties  and  the  lake-shore  counties  of  Illinois, 
and  formed  the  Valparaiso  moraine,  which  reached  from  Waukesha  county 
to  Porter  county,  Indiana,  having  Burlington  in  its  line  of  invasion.  A  spur 
or  branch,  now  named  the  Delavan  lobe  of  the  Lake  Michigan  glacier,  was 
pushed  across  Walworth,  covering  most  of  its  southern  half  and  its  north- 
western quarter,  and  meeting  the  Milton  and  Johnstown  moraines  of  Rock 
county  westward  and  the  Marengo  drift  southward.  Delavan  lake  and  its 
outlet  divides  this  lobe,  and  hence  the  Darien  and  Klkhorn  moraines.  I 
charts  also  show  a  conjectural  Genoa  moraine  less  plainly  indicated,  bul  nol 
improbable. 

The  latest  and  most  likely  greatest  of  these  invading  and  overwhelming 
ice  sheets  found  here  its  southmost  limit.  The  arrested  mass,  heavily 
weighted  with  the  abundant  and  various  spoils  of  its  northern  conquests, 
began  the  long  period  of  its  dissolution.  As  it  slowly  dropped  its  burden  of 
clay,  sand,  gravel,  pebbles,  and  boulders  its  rising  torrents  found  or  forced 
their  outlets  by  the  winding  ways  of  the  present  creeks,  the  valleys  of  which 
are  now  far  wider  than  needful  to  carry  gulfward  the  little  floods  of  spring 
and  autumn.  To  the  action  of  moving  and  melting  glaciers  is  .ascribed  the 
sent  contour  of  the  county.  It  may  be  supposed  that  the  irregular  sur- 
face of  the  latest  rock  deposits  turned  and  in  other  ways  affected  the  general 
course  of  the  glacier  across  the  county,  and  that  fragments  of  the  e  ocl 
were  borne  along  from  the  eastern  side  of  the  county  to  be  dropped  in 
and  counties  lying  some  miles  westward.  It  is  even  imaginable  that  the 
tremendous  force  of  the  moving  mass  -tripped  the  western  part  of  the 
county  of  it-  Niagara  stratum,  for  such  effeel  el  ewhen  are  attributed  to 
such  cause.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  Elkhorn  moraine  was  formed  later 
than  the  parallel  Darien  moraine,  as  the  melting  mass  presented  the  aspect  of 
a  body  retreating  with  its  face  to  the   front.      x  lorn 

about  a  quarter  of  the  county  is  covered  with  the  earlier  moraines,  the  i 
terials  far-brought   from  the  north  and  mixed  with  a  large  portion  of  pebbles 

and  mud  torn  and  ground  from  nearer-lying  rocks.     Something  coi We 

was  added   from  the  outwash  of  the  last  g  I  In    drift   deposit 


28  WALWCRTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

has  been  found  of  greatly  varying  depth ;  as  at  Elkhorn  about  275  feet ;  at 
points  of  the  Darien  moraine  from  400  to  600  feet;  at  Yerkes  Observatory 
(in  Walworth)  405  feet;  at  adjacent  points  in  southeastern  Rock  county 
40  to  100  feet. 

It  can  not  be  said  with  strong  assurance  that  nature's  tremendous  form- 
ative work  is  yet  finished  for  this  county.  The  earthquake  vibration  of 
[908,  so  distinctly  perceived  at  Chicago,  Aurora,  and  other  points  not  farther 
away,  were  also  felt  for  an  instant  here — barely  felt,  but  unmistakably.  It 
is  probable  that  no  place  between  the  poles,  whatever  its  latitude,  is  wholly 
and  forever  exempt  from  the  action  of  cosmic  or  of  subterranean  forces, 
though  man  very  reasonably  believes  that  this  earth,  if  not  made  ex- 
pressly for  his  home,  has  been  made  generally  habitable  for  him.  The  dwel- 
lers of  Walworth  do  not  as  yet  feel  as  insecure  as  if  they  had  chosen  their 
homes  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SURFACE  OF  THE  COUNTY   AND  OTHER  NATURAL  FEATURES. 

At  the  appearance  of  human  life  the  surface  of  the  county  must  have 
been  well  drained  of  its  greater  floods,  its  higher  ridges  settled  and  com- 
pacted, and  all  that  was  not  covered  with  water  overspread  with  many  forms 
of  vegetable  growth — subsistence  for  many  forms  of  lower  animal  life. 
Walworth  is  but  a  small  segment  of  the  great  area  of  the  upper  Mississippi 
vallev  and  the  region  of  the  great  lakes,  and  its  superficial  aspect  is  in  most 
respects  that  of  the  greatly  favored  belt  of  southern  Wisconsin  and  northern 
Illinois.  There  is  nowhere  within  the  county  a  height  that,  except  in  loose 
local  habit  of  speech,  can  be  called  a  hill.  Neither  are  there  deep-lying,  twi- 
lighted  gorges,  or  other  features  of  nature  in  her  more  imposing  or  more 
wanton  character. 

HEIGHTS  ABOVE  SEA  LEVEL. 

A  few  official  barometrical  measurements,  in  feet  above  sea  level,  may 
give  a  fair  notion  of  the  upper  and  lower  limits  of  unevenness.  Railway  sta- 
tions, at  which  most  of  these  observations  were  taken,  are  usually  on  lower 
ground  than  their  villages,  and  somewhat  variable  figures  are  shown  in  dif- 
ferent tabulations.  For  instance,  the  height  of  Lake  Michigan  is  set  down 
at  578  feet  and  also  at  580  feet  above  sea  level. 

Allen  Grove  (old  station) 871     Honev  Creek   (village) 816 

Allen  Grove  (new  station)  ....  918     Lake  Beulah  I  station) 825 

Bardwell    S07     Lake  I  ;ene\  a   ( cit]  1    878 

Darien    946     Lyons  1  station) 800 

Delavan    807     Mayhew   (station)    865 

Duck  Lake  (or  Lake  Como)  .  .  848     Sharon  1028 

East  Troy 850     Springfield   848 

Elkhorn    (station)    996     Spring  Prairie 920 

Elkhorn  (northwestern  corner)  [137      [>o                   ' 

Elkhorn  (city)    1031      Wal                       >n)    to 

Fayettevile 864     Whitewater   

leva  1  point  on  section  19)  .  .  1149     Yerkes  Observatory   o 

Geneva  Lake 852     Z               ration) 9§7 


& 


30  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


PRAIRIES,    OPENINGS    AND    FORESTS. 


The  prairies  are  nowhere  boundless  to  the  eye,  and,  but  for  small  areas, 
nowhere  quite  level  or  greatly  rolling!  The  primitive  forests,  with  tangled 
undergrowth,  reached  no  great  distance  backward  from  the  margins  of 
lakes  and  banks  of  creeks.  Timber-openings  limited  and  were  limited  by 
the  prairies,  and  this  both  agreeably  and  usefully  to  pleasure-loving  and 
profit-seeking  man.  The  barren  gravel  knolls  are  few  and  conveniently 
distributed.  The  marshes  were  usually  small,  and  several  of  these  have 
been  drained.  The  largest  was  that  part  of  Honey  Creek  valley  locally 
known  as  Troy  marsh,  in  southern  sections  (square  miles)  of  that  town: 
and  Turtle  Creek  marsh,  in  the  eastern  sections  of  Richmond. 
Both  of  these  have  contracted  their  area  and  both  will  soon  be  added 
to  the  acreage  of  dairy  land.  Pursuant  to  an  act  of  Congress. 
September  28.  1850,  relating  to  reclamation  of  swamp  and  overflowed  lands 
unfit  for  cultivation,  a  patent  signed  by  President  Pierce,  December  13, 
1856,  granted  to  Wisconsin  all  such  lands  remaining  unsold  at  passage  of 
that  act.  Proceeds  of  sales  from  these  lands  are  invested  for  the  benefit  of 
the  State  University.  Tracts  of  this  description  selected  in  Walworth 
count)    were  in  the   following  named  towns: 

liloomfield,  parts  of  sections  S,   24 'i6o  acres 

East  Troy,  parts  of  sections   13,   14 80  acres 

Lafayette,  parts  of  sections  4,   8 281.28  acres 

Lyons,    part   of    section    29 40  acres 

Richmond,  parts  of  sections  22,  23,  24,   26 1200  acres 

Sugar  Creek,  parts  of  sections  19,  20,  21 443-1  acres 

Whitewater,  part  of  sections  34,  35 80  acres 


2284.38  acres 

WATER  COURSES. 

Rock  river,  flowing  southward  through  the  county  of  the  same  name, 
and  thence  to  the  Mississippi,  and  Fox  river,  flowing  in  like  direction  to  the 
same  destination  through  the  counties  of  Racine  and  Kenosha,  receive  all 
the  drainage  of  Walworth.  The  great  divide,  for  the  most  part,  lies  nearly 
diagonally  southwest  and  northwest,  along  the  great  moraine.  Honey 
creek  and  Sugar  creek  run  by  nearly  parallel  courses — the  former  from  La- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  g] 

grange  across  the  Troys,  thence  southward  to  section  13,  Spring  Prairie, 
where  it  joins  the  latter  within  a  few  rods  of  the  county  line,  and  meets  the 
Fox  near  Burlington.  Sugar  creek  rises  in  a  marsh  near  Richmond  and 
crosses  the  towns  of  Sugar  Creek.  Lafayette  and  Spring  Prairie. 

The  outlet  of  Geneva  lake  is  rather  grandly  named  White  river  and  is 
joined  in  Lyons  by  the  outlet  of  Duck  lake,  ending  its  crooked  course  at 
the  city  of  Burlington.  Three  streams,  the  west,  northwest  and  northeasl 
branches  of  the  Nippersink,  meet  a  little  above  Genoa  Junction  and  reach  the 
Fox  a  few  miles  below  Richmond,  Illinois.  The  west  branch  conies  out  of 
Linn,  crossing  and  recrossing  the  state  line.  The  other  branches  are  whollj 
in  Bloomfield.  The  northeast  branch  is  an  outlet  of  Powers  lake  and  its 
little  companion  lakes,  lying  along  the  border  of  Kenosha  county. 

Most  of  the  town  of  Whitewater  is  drained  by  the  creek  of  that  name. 
which  rises  near  the  Richmond  line,  flows  northward,  becomes  near  the  city 
a  pair  of  connected  ponds,  and,  passing  into  Jefferson  county,  reaches  the 
Rock  by  way  of  Bark  river.  Turtle  creek  rises  in  Richmond,  receives  the 
1  rharge  from  Delavan  lake  outlet,  crosses  Darien  (leaving  the  count)  near 
Allen  Grove),  finds  its  way  to  the  Rock  near  Beloit,  having  crossed  the 
towns  of  Bradford  and  Turtle.  More  than  one  half  of  the  drainage  of 
Elkhorn  reaches  the  Turtle  by  way  of  Delavan  lake  inlet  and  outlet.  The 
inlet  has  but  a  short  course,  in  northern  Geneva  and  Delavan,  south  of  Elk- 
horn,  and  among  its  names  have  been  Wallings,  Phillips,  and  Jackson's  creek. 
Straight  southward  through  Sharon  and  near  its  eastern  line  runs  the 
Piskasaw,  which  crosses  the  state  line,  traverses  McHenry  and  B01 
counties  to  merge  itself  in  the  Rock  in  southeastern  Winnebago.  Thus  by 
;t-  streamlets,  once  mighty  glacial  torrents,  Walworth  is  joined  to  all  the 
oceans  between  pole  and  pole. 

LAKES    AND   TI!  EIB      01 

The  lake  region  of  southeastern  Wisconsin  includes  the  counties  of 
Dane,  Jefferson,  Kenosha.  Racine,  Walworth  and  Waukesha.  The  larg 
of  the  Walworth  lakes  are  Geneva,  Delavan,  the  Lauderdale  group, 
and  P.eulah,  all  of  which  have  been  made  known  beyond  the  county 
borders,  by  the  tongues  and  pens  of  men,  Mad  Longfellow  been  provi- 
dentially guided  to  one  or  all  of  fhese  lake-  he  mighl  have  added  plea  antly, 
if  not  greatly,  to  his  "poems  of  places."  He  may  have  felt  thai  local  pi 
have  rightly  some  precedence  here,  and  these  well  bel  od   'he  lyric 

muse  have  neither  i  :  nor  flagrantly  abused  their  heaven-senl  opp 


32  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

tunities.  The  other  lakes,  in  impartial  order  of  alphabet,  are:  Army,  Bass, 
Booth,  tun  <''>ii]i>>.  1 1  olden' s,  Lulu,  Mud,  Pell's,  Pleasant,  Potter's,  Rus- 
sell's (or  Otter),  Ryan's,  and  Silver.  Of  these,  Pleasant  is  associated  in 
many  minds  with  the  Lauderdale  chain,  and  Army,  Booth  and  Mud  with 
Beulah.  Power's  lake,  in  Kenosha  county,  has  one  long  shore,  with  enough 
water  to  keep  its  pebbles  clean,  in  Bloomheld.  A  smaller  lake  (Middle)  has 
an  end  in  Bloomfield  and  a  third  (Lower)  is  wholly  in  that  town,  and  these 
two  lead  the  waters  of  Powers  to  the  Nippersink. 

As  far  as  is  known  to  the  Wisconsin  Geological  and  Natural  History 
Survey,  of  all  the  inland  lakes  of  the  state,  the  deepest  is  Green  lake,  in  the 
county  of  that  name,  jjj  feet.  The  next  deepest  is  Geneva  lake,  and  in  the 
clearness  and  coolness  of  its  water  it  has  no  rival.  Its  surface  is  860  feet 
above  sea  level,  ami  282  feet  above  Lake  Michigan.  Its  length  is  about  seven 
and  live-eighths  miles  and  its  area  8.6  square  miles.  Its  very  variable  width  is 
shown  by  the  table  below,  the  results  of  nearly  six  hundred  soundings  taken 
on  nine  lines  measured  across  the  ice  from  shore  to  shore.  The  length  of 
these  lines  and  the  deepest  sounding  along  each  are  thus  given,  beginning  near 
the  head  01"  the  lake  : 

Miles         Feet  Deep 

Marengo  Park  to  Fresh  Air  Association 1.3  102.7 

Cook's  Camp  to  Camp  Collie 1.1  142.0 

1     ok's  Camp  to   Williams  Bay  Pier 2.0  '40.7 

I 'ark  to   Cedar   Point 1.1  123.3 

Across  mouth  of  Williams  Bay 0.8 

Black    Poinl  to  Cisco  Bay 1.1  ui.o 

\t   the   Narrows 0.5  75.4 

I'oii'         ,     in.  a  little  west  of  Button's  Bay.  ..  .    1.4  71.5 

Vlanning's   Poinl   to  opposite  shore 0.8 

!  lelavan  lake  is  nearh   three  and  three-fourths  miles  long  and  its  average 

widl  iurths  of  a  mile.     Its  ar.-a  is  j.7  square  miles.     It>  great- 

ei  1  known  depth  is  56  7  feet.     For  the  greater  part  of  its  area  it  is  more  than 

feel  deep  and  little  of  it  1.'--  than  ten  to  twenty  feet. 

The   measurements   and   computations    for   Beulah    ami    its   companion 

are  shown  thus: 

Booth    Lake    Greatest  depth.  25.4  feet;  area.  125  acres 

Beulah  Lake — 

Upper Greatest  depth,  67.0  feet;  area.  260  ai 

Hind Greatest  depth,  40.0  feet:  area.  [GO  acres 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  33 

Lower ( Nearest  depth,  54.2   feet ;  area,  550  acres 

Mill Greatest  depth,  51.5   feel ;  area.     6i   ai 

East    Troy    Lake    (Army) Greatest   depth,    [6.8   feet;  area,     8]   acres 

Similar  tabulation  for  the  Lauderdale  chain  shows: 

Green  Lake Greatest  depth,   56.8   feel  ;  area,  282  acres 

Middle  Lake Greatest  depth,  50.0   feet;  area.  282  acres 

Mill  Lake Greatest   depth,   50.0   feet :  area.  304  ai 

These  officially  surveyed  lake--  have  been  of  no  inconsiderable  economic 
value  to  the  county.  Their  attractions  for  summer  visitors  do  not  as  yet 
wither  or  grow  stale,  and  their  influence  on  the  valuation  of  adjacent  real 
estate  is  evident. 

NATURAL   PRODUCTS. 

Stone  crops  out  occasionally  along  the  hank-  of  creeks,  but  little  quarry- 
ing has  been  found  profitable.  Cobblestones  and  boulders  were  strewn,  not 
thickly,  as  in  the  rugged  farther-east,  but  not  difficult  to  gather,  in  the  first 
half  century  of  white  man's  needs,  for  wells  and  foundation  walls.  The 
lake  shallows  and  creek  bottoms  supplied  much  of  this  homely  but  readily 
available  material.  A  large  three-storied  hotel  was  early  built  at  East  Troy 
of  little  more  than  fist-sized  pebbles,  and  seems  time-defying;  and  a  wayside 
inn,  now  a  sober  and  substantial  dwelling,  was  built  at  Tibbets  before  rail- 
ways came  this  way,  of  gravel  and  lime  mortar. 

Brick  clay  of  variable  quality  has  been  found  and  used  from  an  early 
date,  making  a  substantial,  though  often  homely  article  for  home  builders. 
The  best  is  that  at  Whitewater,  its  bricks  having  the  color  and  hardness  of 
the  cream-colored  product  which  once  made  Milwaukee  famous.  Generally, 
the  bricks  from  other  kilns  vary  in  color  from  grayish  yellow  to  dull  light 
red.  Drain  tiles  have  been  made  for  home  trade  for  perhaps  a  quarter- 
century. 

Beds  of  peat  have  been  worked  in  the  valley  of  Whitewater  creek,  but 
without  great  influence  upon  the    fuel   market.      Deposits  of 
here  and  there  have  been  worked  experimentally,  and   for  a    time  have  raised 
some  hopes  in  the  minds  of  owners.     The  one  great,  unfailing,  earth-hidi 
resource  is  spread  over  all  the  town-,  at  plowing  depth  belov  ur- 

face. 

(3) 


34  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN 


TIMBER. 


There  was  nothing  peculiar  to  this  county  in  its  native  trees,  shrubs, 
vines,  medicinal  herbs  and  weeds.  Oaks  of  the  black,  burr,  pin,  red  and 
white  varieties  were  by  far  the  most  numerous  and  widely  spread,  and  hence 
most  valuable;  and  these  gave  their  distinctive  character  to  the  timber  open- 
ings, so  inviting  to  the  early  comers.  Other  trees  and  shrubs  were  black  and 
white  ash.  basswood,  birch,  black  cherry,  black  walnut,  butternut,  red  and 
white  cedar,  crab  apple,  cranberry,  hazel,  hickory,  ironwood.  locust,  curly 
and  sugar  maple,  plum,  poplar,  sumach,  tamarack  and  willow.  The  oaks, 
at  fir>t  piled  for  cabin  walls  and  split  for  fencing  and  fuel,  were  but  little 
later  hewn  for  long-lasting  framework  of  houses,  barns,  mills,  churches  and 
county  buildings,  and  sawed  into  scantling,  joists,  inch  boards,  and  half-inch 
siding;  and  when  railways  brought  in  a  full  supply  of  pine  lumber  the  older 
trees  became  the  general  source  of  firewood.  Some  of  these  fallen  lords  of 
the  ancient  forest  may  have  been  thrifty  shoots  as  long  ago  as  the  voyages  of 
Columbus  and  Cartier,  and  many  of  them  must  have  been  acorn-bearers  when 
Nicolet  came  down  Rock  river  valley  from  the  further  north,  in  1634.  A 
few  are  vet  living,  seemingly  as  slow  in  their  dying  as  in  their  growing. 
White  oak  and  hickory  gave  excellent  materials  to  the  local  wagon  makers. 
The  earlier  joiners  found  in  black  walnut  a  fair  supply  of  easily  worked  lum- 
ber for  inner  finish  of  houses.  Since  it  was  taken  as  it  ran  through  the  mills — 
unselected — its  color  was  slightly  improved  by  painting. 

The  settlers  early  became  forest  conservators,  and  there  has  been  little 
wanton  or  accidental  destruction.  The  needs  of  pioneers  and  the  later  fuel 
supply  of  farmers  and  villagers  nearly  exhausted  the  dead  timber  and  the  older 
living  trees  within  the  first  thirty  years.  For  a  few  more  years  the  oaks  of 
sec.  md  grow  tli  gave  firewood  at  a  steadily  rising  price.  Thus,  good  wood, 
often  in  over-full  cords,  was  sold  in  [856  at  $2.25  to  $2.50;  in  1866,  in  even 
cords,  at  $4.50  to  $5:  in  1876,  in  scant  cords,  at  $5.50  to  $6;  in  1896,  in 
loads  of  dead  trunks  and  dynamite-split  stumps,  a  scant  supply  at  $6.  Coal 
began  to  come  into  general  use  after  1X70.  and  is  now.  with  coke,  kerosene. 
and  gasoline,  for  kitchen  use.  the  only  fuel  available  for  such  as  do  not  own 

a  thriftily  managed  w 1  lot.     There  are  yet  many  fair-looking  and  valuable 

grows  of  trees  from  six  to  eight  or  more  inches  in  diameter,  but  the  fortu- 
nate owner-  are  able  to  withold  the  axe  for  yet  a  generation  to  Come.  For 
that  space  of  time,  at  least,  the  county  will  be  far  from  treeless,  as  the  yearly 
growth  seems  to  lie  gaining  on  the  few  cutters. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  35 

CLIMATE. 

The  climate  of  Wisconsin  is  probably  modified  by  the  presence  of  the 
great  lakes  northward  and  eastward  and  by  the  absence  of  great  wind  breaks 
east  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  The  prevailing  winds  of  winter  which  give 
that  season  its  most  familiar  character,  blow  from  the  arc  between  southwest 
and  north,  strongly  and  keenly.  Winds  from  the  lakes  are  much  less  frost- 
laden.  Snow  and  rain  come  from  every  point  of  the  compass-card.  Sudden 
changes  of  weather  often  surprise  wary  observers  and  are  more  trying  than 
greatest  heat  or  cold.  The  prevailing  winds,  which  make  winter  so  cruel, 
compensate  in  the  warmer  seasons  }>\  driving  away  such  miasmas  as  arise 
from  the  shrinking  marshes.  The  fevers  of  the  prairie-breaking  period  have 
disappeared  and  have  made  way  for  the  disorders  of  riotous  or  careless  living. 
Pulmonary  and  bronchial  diseases  are  not  so  common  as  might  be  judg 
likelv  from  the  general  weather  conditions.  The  few  epidemics  are  speedily 
limited  in  severity  and  duration  by  the  local  physicians  and  boards  ol  health. 
As  long  ago  as  1857  a  physician  described  the  region  in  which  he  practiced 
as  "distressingly  healthy."  and  this  could  have  been  said  as  truly  of  the  resl 
of  the  county. 

The  summers  are  variable  as  to  length  and  temperature,  but  may  be  de- 
scribed as  short  and  hot.  There  is  more  complaint  of  drouth  than  oi  ex- 
cessive rain,  both  of  which  have  been  known  to  spoil  the  farmer's  year;  but 
in  general  the  crops  grow  to  fullness  and  ripen  well  111  spite  of  prophetic 
fears.  Untimely  frosts,  too,  sometimes  threaten  or  injure  the  sproul  or  the 
unripe  ear.  The  late  Robert  T.  Seymour  said,  about  [876,  that  he  had  been 
twenty-three  years  in  the  county  and  had  gathered  twenty-one  good  crops 
of  corn. 

In  [859  and  1863  ii  was  noted  that  there  was  in  each  of  these  years  at 
least  one  frosty  night  in  each  month.  A  man  who  seemed  nol  overcredul 
remarked  that  a  friend  had  heard  Solomon  Juneau  say  that  an  aged  Menomi- 
nee had  told  him  that  such  years  had  occurred  quadrennially  in  southeastern 
Wisconsin  for  a  period  reaching  as  far  backward-  as  [743.  Bui  neither 
1867  nor  any  subsequent  year  before  leap  year  has  confirmed  this  simple  rule 
of  forecasting  a  season.  The  summer  of  [859,  for  all  it-  monthly  frost,  was 
generally  hot  and  dry.  The  summer  of  I'M  1.  until  near  the  end  of  August, 
was  warm  and  dry.  and  the  firsl  week  of  July  was  superheated  in  city  and 
country.    In  July  and  August  pipe-layers  found  tl  loist  enough 

to  hold  together  in  spadefuls  at  the  depth  of  six   feet.     Then  began,  in  time 
to  save  the  crops,  short  local  shower-,  increasing  throughout  September  and 


36  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

October  in  frequency  and  duration,  and  so  restored  the  normal  moisture  that 
the  surface  soil  is  likely  to  withstand,  if  need  be,  another  series  of  dry  sum- 
mers. 

Mr.  Dwinnell  noted  that  the  winter  of  1836-7,  endured  in  new  log  huts 
by  himself  and  Isaiah  Hamblin  in  Lafayette  and  by  James  Van  Slyke.  wife 
and  child  at  Fontana,  was  cruelly  cold  and  hard  to  bear.  Mr.  Cravath  told  of 
five  feet  of  snow,  January  to  April,  1843,  anc'  a  narc'  winter.  Mr.  Gale  arid  Mr. 
Simmons  also  thus  noticed  this  winter.  That  of  1856-7  was  exceptionally  cold 
in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  and  the  next  winter,  though  somewhat  less  so,was 
made  trying  by  heavy  snow  and  wild  drifts.  Builders  worked  out  of  doors 
in  1857-8  nearly  all  winter  in  shirt  sleeves.  A  heavy  fall  of  snow,  each  side 
of  New  Year's,  18H4,  was  blown  into  almost  impassable  drifts,  and  with  this 
such  degree  of  cold  as  to  make  the  whole  month  of  January  for  long  mem- 
orable ;  and  this  was  but  slightly  mitigated  in  February.  Among  later  ex- 
tremely cold  winters  were  those  of  1872-3.  1874-5.  1887-8,  1894-5.  That  of 
1875-6  was  mild,  and  the  next,  or  next  but  one,  was  so  muddy  that  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  haul  half-loads  of  produce  into  town.  In  the  first  week  of  November, 
1869,  about  eighteen  inches  of  snow  fell  in  two  days,  and  lay  nearly  undis- 
turbed by  winds  until  March.  For  one  full  winter  sleighing  was  good  where 
(lie  Hacks  were  well  beaten. 

A  MEMORABLE  SEASON. 

The  snow  blockade  of  February  ami  early  March,  1881,  was  general 
throughout  most  of  the  northern  states.  The  weather  of  February  10th  was 
unusually  mild.  Before  daylight  of  the  nth  began  a  heavy  snowfall,  driven 
slantwise  at  a  small  angle  with  the  plane  of  the  horizon,  from  the  north-north- 
east, and  tin's  continued  until  roads  for  long  spaces  were  full  from  fence  to 
fence  ami  deepest  railway  cuts  filled  to  their  tops.  New  levels  thus  reached, 
the  snow  was  driven  onward  to  regions  of  warmer  air.  After  the  first  heavj 
fall  the  air  was  kept  full  of  the  liner  particles  raised  and  driven  by  the  long 
unresting  gale,  constantlj  setting  at  naughl  the  work  of  snow  plows  and  of 
thousands  of  shovelers.  The  fields  were  swept  nearly  bare  between  drifts, 
lint  many  farmers  found  long  and  hard  work  between  house  and  barn.  Vil- 
lages became  as  pett)  sovereignties  with  a  policy  of  non-intercourse.  Resides, 
before  the  ways  were  again  opened  there  was  reasonable  dread  of  a  soon- 
COHling  want  of  flour  and  fuel.  For  nearly  a  month  mails  were  stopped 
Then,  having  been  notified  by  telegraph  that  an  accumulation  of  tie-sacks  had 
reached   Eagle   from  Chicago,  by  wa\    of   Milwaukee,  the  postmaster  at    Elk- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  tf 

horn,  March  8th,  swore  in  Daniel  Lennon  as  special  carrier  and  sent  him  out 
by  two-horse  bob-sled  to  find  his  way  and  flounder  through  it  as  best  he 
might.  He  returned  in  twelve  hours,  himself  and  team  greatly  way-worn; 
Mr.  Bradley  distributed  mail  all  night,  and  men  received  their  del.:  eel 

and  their  newspapers  which  had  become  back  numbers.  Railway  travel  was 
practically  suspended  about  three  weeks. 

The  only  employment  for  young  men  was  as  volunteer  shovelers  in  the 
nearer  railway  cuts.  They  soon  discharged  themselves  with  blistered  faces 
and  necks,  and  eyes  for  some  days  blinded  from  the  reflected  heat  and  glare 
of  the  sun  in  the  snow  pits.  Older  or  less  active  men,  finding  home  a  cage, 
wallowed  through  drifts  and  fought  with  the  gale  to  reach  hotel,  saloon  or 
store  and  soon  found  the  fireside  gossip  there  stale  and  outworn  tor  want  of 
new  material. 

Nicholas  Donoghue  died  about  March  ist  and  his  body  lay  unburied  for 
a  week  or  more.  Isaac  Burson  died  March  5th,  at  a  hotel,  and  his  body  lay 
more  than  fortv-eight  hours  before  it  could  be  taken  to  his  relatives,  two 
and  one-half  miles  away,  toward  Delavan.  These  few  instances  may  show 
the  effectiveness  of  this  historic  blockade. 

When  the  snow  no  longer  filled  the  air  and  shovelers  began  t<>  make 
some  way  through  the  drifts,  men  hoped  that  as  the  slowly  creeping  month 
neared  the  equinox  the  sun  would  prevail  against  the  long  winter.  But,  on 
the  19th,  the  storm  returned  to  Wisconsin,  Illinois  and  Iowa.  It  seemed  tin- 
same  snow,  driven  from  the  same  quarter  at  the  same  angle  by  the  same  ill- 
intending  wind.  It  was  mid-April  before  all  the  highways  opened.  Neat  the 
end  of  May  the  slowly-melting  snow  and  lower  ice  lingered  in  such  places  as 
the  hollow  next  west  of  the  church  near  Jacobsville. 


CHAPTER  III. 

INDIAN    OCCUPATION MOUNDS     AND    RELICS GEOGRAPHICAL    NAMES. 

At  the  coining  of  Jean  Xicolet  in  1634  to  Green  bay  and  thence  by  way 
of  Rock  river  to  the  Mississippi,  Wisconsin  was  well  occupied  by  Chippewas, 
Maskoutens,  Menominees  (Folles  Avoines,  or  wild  rice  eaters),  Outagamis, 
Pottawattomies,  Sauks,  Winnebagos,  and  remnants  of  other  Indian  tribes. 
Whatever  had  been  their  previous  inter-tribal  relations,  the  presence  and 
influence  of  the  soon-following  French  missionaries,  traders,  and  garrisons 
tended  somewhat  to  make  the  wars  of  these  tribes  less  frequent.  As  far  as 
this  condition  was  brought  about  at  all.  it  was  done,  in  great  part  by  arraying 
the  natives  against  the  English  as  their  common  enemy.  Charles  Langlade 
led  his  Indians  and  French  half-breeds  to  their  share  in  Braddock's  defeat,  and 
in  1760  to  the  defense  of  Montreal. 

A  few  years  after  Xew  France  was  no  more,  British  agents  directed 
native  hostility  against  the  American  settlers  in  the  old  Northwest  Territory  as 
the  advance  guards  of  the  real  and  forever-encroaching  wrongers  of  the  Indian. 
Though  after  the  Revolution  the  titles  of  the  tribes,  from  eastern  Ohio  to 
farther  Iowa  and  Missouri  were  slowly  extinguished  by  wars  and  by  treaties, 
for  yet  a  half-century  after  the  peace  of  1783  the  settlers  of  Illinois  and  Wis- 
consin were  not  secure  from  the  terrors  of  Indian  outbreak.  The  motley  de- 
scendants of  Langlade,  with  their  full-blooded  Indian  friends,  fought  against 
Hai-mar.  St.  Clair  and  Wayne,  in  Ohio,  and  at  Tippecanoe  and  in  the  war 
oi  1812-15  they  found  work  for  their  too  willing  hands.  By  a  treaty  at  Fort 
Harmar,  July  9,  1789,  General  Harrison  acting  in  behalf  of  the  United  States, 
the  chiefs  of  the  Sauks  and  Pottawattomies  ceded  the  district  lying  be- 
tween the  Fox  and  the  Mississippi,  which  included  about  two  tiers  of  Wis- 
consin counties.  Black  Hawk,  always  hostile,  denied  the  right  of  the  chiefs 
i"  give  or  sell  the  lands  of  the  tribes.  I  lis  foolish  undertaking,  in  [832,  ended 
in  defeat  and  expulsion  of  himself  and  his  always  intractable  tribe,  and  Indian 
war  was  no  longer  possible  on  this  side  <>\  the  Mississippi.  He  had  received 
some  delusive  encouragement  from  the  Winnebagos  of  Rock  River  valley, 
who  may  have  hoped  for  him  some  partial  or  temporary  success  while  they 
dared  not   help  him  openly.      It  does  not  appear  that   the   Pottawattomies  lis- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  39 

tened  to  his  plans,  nor  that  they  greatly  shared  his  blind  hatred  of  white  men. 
Their  own  landlord  rights  had  been  signed  away  at  Fort  llarmar,  and 
the  event  of  the  war  with  England  had  left  them  no  hope  of  recovery  of  their 
ancient  domain  by  trick  or  force.  This  county  had  been  a  part  of  their 
patrimony  from  white  man's  earliest  knowledge.  They  had  at  least  three 
villages,  as  late  as  the  coming  of  the  surveyors  who  staked  the  corners  of 
townships  and  sections,  along  the  shores  of  Geneva  lake.  Bigfoot.  one  of 
their  chiefs,  had  his  village  near  the  site  of  Fontana,  and  there  was  one  at 
Williams  Bay,  and  another  at  the  foot  of  the  lake.  There  had  been  a  village 
on  each  side  of  Delavan  lake,  one  at  Whitewater,  ami  part  of  the  tribe  hov- 
ered on  the  eastern  line  of  the  county,  near  Burlington.  Squaws  had  broken 
ground  and  raised  corn  before  white  men  came  with  plow  and  hoe  and  they 
boiled  maple  sap  in  the  valley  of  Sugar  creek.  They  lingered  until  [837  l>e- 
fore  following  the  westering  trail  of  most  of  their  race.  Bigfool  had  no  eon 
suming  love  for  the  evicting  white  men,  and  less  for  their  ways  of  life,  but 
he  was  wise  and  prudent  enough  to  comply  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty  which 
had,  in  effect,  given  his  hunting  grounds  to  the  plow  and  his  fishing  places  to 
tourist-laden  steamers.  It  is  told  of  him  that  he  asked  of  a  friendly  new- 
comer that  the  graves  of  two  of  his  wives  and  a  son  should  be  respected,  and 
that  on  that  occasion  he  gave  way  to  much  like  a  Caucasian's  emotion.  The 
earlier  settlers  at  Geneva,  Spring  Prairie,  and  Whitewater  saw  the  disappear- 
ance of  these  several  links  between  historic  and  pre-historic  Wisconsin. 

MOUNDS   AND  RELICS. 


Among  relics,  left  for  a  short  time,  of  the  older  occupancy  were  a  lew- 
mounds  of  a  period  which  has  left  no  other  sign — a  period  antedating  oldesl 
Algonquin  tradition.  One  of  these,  lizard-shaped,  with  legs  outspread,  tail 
turned  northwardly,  was  at  the  flat-iron  point  of  Main  and  Lake  streets,  Lake 
Geneva.  It  was  fifty  to  eighty  feet  long,  ten  to  twelve  feet  wide,  and  two  to 
three  feet  high.  A  large  oak  stump  at  its  top  gave  a  partial  hint  of  it-  age. 
Little  more  than  a  block  westward  was  a  larger  mound,  also  lizard-shaped,  with 
longer  tail.  Both  heads  were  near  the  water'-  edge.  About  the  head  of  the 
lake  were  other  mounds,  in  size  and  shape  not  easily  determinable,  and  cov- 
ered with  woodland  growth.  On  section  31,  town  of  Geneva,  between  the 
lakes  of  Geneva  and  Como,  was  a  bow-and-arrow  shaped  earthwork.  This 
monument  of  a  forgotten  race  was  alreadj  badly  in  need  of  the  "restorer's 
ingenious  art.  It  was  eighty  to  ninet)  feel  Ion-  and  it-  form  was  thai  ol  a 
bent  bow  with  arrow    ready    tor  flight   toward   the  larger   lake,   as   if   unseen 


4°  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

bowmen  lay  forever  in  wait  for  unwary  or  daring  trespassers.  A  little  west- 
ward from  the  city  of  Whitewater,  on  the  crest  of  a  bluff,  was  an  oblong 
mound  measuring  sixty-five  feet  from  north  to  south,  twenty  feet  wide,  and 
at  its  middle  about  five  feet  high.  Less  than  a  half  mile  northeasterly  were 
three  conical  mounds,  about  twenty-five  feet  across  and  nearly  seven  feet 
high.  Besides  these  ancient  works  there  were  a  few  smaller  burial  mounds 
about  the  count)-,  not  older  than  the  French  dominion.  This  was  shown  by 
the  contents,  which  included  medals,  buttons  and  trinkets  of  French  make.— 
all  taken  by  irreverent  white  despoilers  from  these  family  vaults.  Stone  and 
flint  weapons  and  articles  used  in  the  lodges  have  been  found  and  are  yet 
occasionally  found  on  or  but  slightly  below  the  surface,  in  field  and  wood- 
land, everywhere  about  the  county.  Intelligent  local  collectors  have  especially 
noticed  the  abundance  of  these  relics  on  both  sides  of  Delavan  lake. 

It  was  for  long  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  the  several  low  mounds  on 
and  about  the  Lake  Lawn  farm  conceal  evidences  of  pre-historic  occupation 
of  the  shores  of  Delavan  lake.  In  March,  1911,  Ernest  F.  and  Chester  W.  Phil- 
lips began  to  trench  across  mounds  on  the  family  property,  and  with  much 
labor  and  persistence  verified,  at  one  point,  the  general  surmise.  At  seven 
feet  downward  they  reached  an  oblong  pit,  seven  by  nine  feet,  carried  about 
two  feet  farther  down  into  a  stratum  of  loose  gravel.  The  pit  was  floored 
with  loose  cobble-stones  made  even  with  sand,  and  its  walls  were  also  of  loose 
stones  in  the  way  of  skillful  well  diggers.  Two  skeletons  sat  in  opposite 
corners,  and  twelve  more  were  laid  or  piled  between;  but  no  relics  of  other 
kind  had  been  placed  there,  nothing  to  hint  that  they  were  killed  in  battle, 
sacrificed  to  the  gods  of  their  enemies,  drowned  while  the  lake  spirit  was  in 
angriest  mood,  or  swept  away  by  swiftly  marching  pestilence.  A  local  paper 
remarked  truly:  "The  finding  of  these  bones  affords  rare  play  for  the  imag- 
ination." The  pit  had  been  filled  with  loose  earth,  and  a  covering  of  clay 
baked  from  the  top  to  something  like  the  hardness  of  brick.  The  mound. 
rounded  above  all.  is  about  forty  feet  across  and  four  feet  high.  It  is  probable 
that  the  State  Archaeological  Society  will  in  its  own  time  describe  with  exact- 
ness and   fullness,  and  will  deduce  with  scientific  care  and  conclusiveness. 


GEOGR  \  T ■  1 1  Ic    \I.    NAMES. 


One  relic  of  the  long  Algonquin  occupation  is  all  but  absent,  that  of 
Indian  names  on  the  county  maps.  Only  Nippersink  and  Piskasaw  have  been 
so  preserved,  and  these,  without  doubt,  in  such  clipped  and  weakened  forms 
as  no  Algonquin  purist,  trying  to  restore  or  re-create  the  classic  dialects  and 


WALWORTH    COUNTY;    WISCONSIN.  41 

literature  of  his  people,  could  accept  as  better  than  "pidgin"  Indian.  Seme  >i' 
the  fathers  of  the  county  learned  a  few  of  the  less  difficult  Pottawattomie 
words  for  familiar  objects,  but  did  not  permanently  enrich  the  pioneer  speech 
with  these  graceful  or  vigorous  terms.  Bigfoot's  English  name  was  for  a  very 
short  time  given  to  his  lake;  but  better  taste  prevailed,  and  his  only  monu- 
ment on  the  map  is  but  a  four-corners  postoffice  on  the  Illinois  side  of  a  state- 
line  road,  south  of  Walworth,  though  the  adjacent  prairie  in  that  town  is  still 
so  named  locally. 

The  natives  had  named  most  of  the  lakes  and  creeks,  and  the  present 
names  are  translations  or  paraphrases  of  the  Pottawattomie  or  other  original 
terms.  But  there  were  alternative  forms  of  a  few  of  these  names,  as  if  there 
had  been  difference  of  dialect  or  other  circumstance.  A  few  of  these  uncouth 
names  have  been  preserved,  though  with  some  doubt  as  to  accuracy  of  their 
spelling : 

Bigfoot — Mang-go-zid,  Muh-mang-go-zid,  Mu-sha-o-zet,  Mauk-suek, 
Mauk-soe,  Pok-toh,  Ke-che-sit. 

Duck  Creek — She-sheip-se-pee. 

Duck  Lake — She-sheip-bess. 

Geneva  Lake — Gee-zhich-qua-wauk,  Kish-wau-ke-toe,  Gee-zihig-wau- 
gid-dug-gah,  Kish-wau-keak. 

Honey  Creek — Mish-qua-woc,  Ah-moo-sis-po-quet-se-pee. 

Sugar  Creek — Sis-po-quet-se-pee. 

Swan  Creek — Wau-ba-shaw-se-pee. 

Swan  Lake — Wau-ba-shaw-bess. 

Whitewater — Wau-be-gan-naw-pe-kat,  Wau-bish-ne-pa-wau. 

The  government's  surveyors  were  instructed  to  preserve  in  their  field 
notes  the  native  terms  for  lakes  and  streams:  but  such  a  list  as  the  foregoing 
would  have  been  modified  greatly  or  disregarded  wholly  in  the  usage  of  the 
settlers,  few  of  whom  came  from  Maine  ami  none  Mom  Gulliver  lands. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SETTLEMENT   OF   THE  OLD   NORTHWEST. 

An  early  sequence  of  the  peace  of  1783  was  the  removal  of  the  generally 
hostile  Iroquois  tribes  from  old  Tryon  county  and  farther  Xew  York  to 
Canada,  and  the  restriction  of  the  remnant  families  and  part  tribes  of  friendly 
Indians  to  small  and  but  temporary  reservations  in  Genesee  Valley.  The 
great  wilderness  westward  of  the  counties  along  the  Hudson  and- the  lower 
Mohawk  were  thus  opened  at  once  to  peaceful  settlement.  Central,  northern 
and  western  Xew  York,  and  the  bordering  tier  of  Pennsylvania  counties,  filled 
rapidly  with  men  of  Xew  England.  Hunger  for  broader  and  more  tillable 
fields,  and  thirst  for  the  "unearned  increment"  of  farm  values  and  selling 
prices  of  village  lots — better  material  conditions — were  primary  causes  of  this 
swift,  noiseless  flight  from  Egypt.  But  the  secondary  cause  lay  closely  behind. 
These  work-hardened  men  were  organizers  of  towns,  counties  and  states ;  and 
their  influence  upon  political,  industrial  and  commercial  life  was  felt  im- 
mediately. As  they  followed  the  course  of  the  sun,  having  all  the  west  before 
them  and  Providence  their  guide,  they  threw  off  much  of  the  burden  of  older 
colonial  ideas,  and  wherever  they  halted,  they  founded  a  more  liberal  Xew 
England,  one  of  the  nineteenth  century  then  at  hand  rather  than  of  the  out- 
worn century  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  great  advance  guard  of  the  invasion  hav- 
ing secured  a  first  choice  of  farms  and  town  sites,  the  later  divisions  of  this 
grand  army,  reinforced  by  a  yet  small  European  immigration,  found  the  great 
lakes  an  easy  mad  to  the  broad  Northwest  Territory.  They  carried  with  them 
their  household  goods  and  much  besides.  Caesar  and  his  fortunes  were  but 
a  light  burden  compared  with  theirs.  If  not  all  of  these  men  were  conscious 
of  the  near-lying  possibilities  ami  responsibilities  before  them,  there  were 
among  them  men  who  hoped  greatly  for  themselves,  for  their  country  and  For 
humanity. 

hour  states  had  grown  from  the  joint  cession  of  territory  by  Virginia, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  the  fullness  of  time  had  arrived  for  \Vis- 
consin,  which  was  then  known  as  an  Indian  country,  a  fair  field  for  trade  in 
furs  and  whisky,  and  as  having  in  its  southwestern  corner  a  workable  de- 
posit  of  lead  ores.    1 '['Ik-  barbarous  heraldry  of  the   state  seal  quarters  the 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  43 

mattock  with  the  anchor,  plow,  and  sledge  hammer,  with  a  miner  and  a  sailor 
as  supporters,  almost  the  last  device  that  could  occur  to  men  who  knew  the 
state's  real  resources.  But  the  motto.  "Forward,"  is  English  and  significant, 
and  nearly  atones  for  the  blazonry).  The  establishment  of  a  land  office  at 
Milwaukee  and  the  contract-letting  to  surveyors  for  the  work  of  finding  and 

staking  the  corners  of  townships  and  of  their  sectional  subdivisions  was  - 1 

followed  by  the  long  memorable  business  crisis  and  panic  of  J 837.  Though 
this  was  truly  a  national  calamity,  it  had  some  determining  influence  on  the 
general  character  of  the  first  great  wave  of  immigration  to  southeastern 
Wisconsin  and  northern  Illinois — the  latter  then  hardly  less  a  wilderness  than 
the  former — and  in  some  way  wrought  not  ill  for  our  county.  Settlements 
and  nearly  atones  for  the  blazonry.)  The  establishment  of  a  land  office  at 
tives,  friends,  and  friends'  relatives  and  friends — fleeing  from  commercial 
and  industrial  disaster  in  the  East — to  this  rather  than  to  some  other  segment 
of  the  western  paradise.  Many  of  these  newer  comers  journeyed  by  the  easy 
way  of  the  lakes  to  Milwaukee,  Racine  and  Southport,  and  thence  by  Indian 
trail  or  territorial  road  to  their  much  desired  journey's  cud;  for,  fair  and  fer- 
tile as  were  the  fields  passed  over,  there  were  friends  and  equally  fair  prospects 
but  a  dav  or  two's  travel  forward.  Xot  a  few-  came  overland  from  their  old 
homes  in  covered  wagons — "prairie  schooners." 

The  stout-hearted  men  of  1836  and  1S37  had  budded  better  than  they 
knew,  though  they  had  not  worked  blindly  nor  without  large  purpose.  They 
had  taken  the  first  step  which  costs  and  also  counts  at  so  many  of  men's  be- 
ginnings, and  which  made  the  way  of  their  followers  a  little  easier  than  their 
own  had  been.  A  colonial  clergyman,  preaching  an  "election  sermon"  to  men 
of  .Massachusetts,  in  1688,  said  that  God  had  sifted  a  whole  nation,  that  He 
might  send  choice  grain  into  the  New  England  wilderness.  It  was  no  inferior 
grain,  sifted  largely  from  the  Eastern  states  with  a  not  negligible  quantity 
From  the  British  empire  and  from  Germany,  which  sowed  this  county  with 
home-builders  from  whom  was  to  proceed  a  generation  of  nation-defenders. 

It  is  not  now  and  here  needful  to  exalt  overduly  the  character  and  ability 
of  the  founders  nor  to  set  them  greatly  above  the   fair  average  of  American 
citizens  of  their  time,     hew  of  them  were  saints,  though  a  large  pi 
them  were  God-fearing  and  man-loving,  and  nearl)  all  were  well  bred  in  obi 
ience  to  law  and  in  respeel    for  social  order:  and  all  were  in  some  wa\   useful, 
each  to  others.  Their  new  situation  called  into  readj  action  the  ancient  virl 
of  hospitality  to  strangers  at  their  cabin  doors  anil  of  neighborly  helpfulness 
and  indulgence:  though  they  differed  sturdily,  like  men  of  many  minds,  y 
interests,  ami  prejudices.      Like  comrades  in  arms,  and  like  all  who  mec'   like 


44  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 

dangers  and  difficulties,  these  men  soon  learned  each  other's  general  or  special 
value,  and  neither  could  nor  would  they  suffer  a  foible  or  two  to  hide  true 
worth  wholly  out  of  sight;  for,  just  then,  men  were  more  wanted  than  ideal 
perfection  in  men's  garments. 

The  pioneers  had  left  orderly,  well-governed  communities,  where 
churches,  schools,  public  records,  newspapers,  mails,  roads  and  all  such 
agencies  as  bind  men  together  in  large  and  in  small  communities  are  human 
nature's  daily  needs;  and  such  were  the  needs  of  the  men  and  women  of  Wal- 
worth after  their  first  provision  for  shelter,  food  and  fuel.  Another  early  need, 
too,  has  been  noted — that  of  "allotting  a  portion  of  the  virgin  soil  as  a  ceme- 
tery, and  another  portion  as  the  site  of  a  prison,"  and  these  needs  were  not 
long  neglected.  The  early  settlers  included  men  of  such  various  callings  that 
most  of  the  work  required  by  their  simpler  life  could  be  done  among  them 
from  passably  well  to  skillfully.  Besides  the  indispensable  farmers,  house- 
builders,  mill-wrights,  sawyers,  millers,  blacksmiths,  shoemakers,  and  tailors, 
there  came  at  once  surveyors,  physicians,  preachers,  teachers,  lawyers,  re- 
tailers, inn-keepers,  and  moneylenders.  A  community  so  meeting  and  form- 
ing on  prairies  and  among  venerable  trees  might  be  likened  to  houses  framed, 
marked  and  shipped  to  a  colony  across  the  sea,  there  to  "rise  like  an  exhala- 
tion." 

BIRTHPLACES  OF   EARLIEST    MEN    OF    WALWORTH. 

As  to  the  old  homes,  it  may  be  said  more  specifically  and  without  great 
inaccuracy  that  while  every  New  England  state,  nearly  every  county  of  New 
York,  and  many  counties  of  the  Western  Reserve  of  Ohio  sent  within  a  dozen 
years  each  its  contribution,  the  greater  number  were  from  Vermont,  western 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  the  counties  of  northern,  central  and  western 
New  York,  with  those  along  both  banks  of  the  Hudson,  the  northern  tier  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  northeastern  Ohio.  But  there  were  also  noticeably  men  of 
New  Jersey,  the  upper  Delaware  counties  of  Pennsylvania  and  of  those  along 
her  southern  tier;  besides  men  who  had  first  sojourned  in  Michigan.  Indiana 
and  Illinois.  There  were  a  few  from  "Kvangeline-land,"  descended  from  men 
of  Connecticut  and  eastern  Long  Island  who  went  in  1760-61  to  make  Xova 
Scotia  of  Acadie,  and  Cornwallis,  Horton,  and  Aylesford  from  the  parish  of 
Grand  Pre,  and  also  to  set  up  for  Rev.  Thomas  Handley  a  pulpit  in  place  of 
Father  Kclicien's  altar. 

Men  of  foreign  birth  found  their  way  here  easily,  though  they  were  not 
:it  first  very  numerous.  As  transportation  improved,  their  movement  this  way 
was  somewhat  quickened,  and  more  noticeably  after  the  Irish  famine  of  1847 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  45 

and  the  German  revolution  of  [848-49.  Irishmen  diffused  themselves  through- 
out the  towns  and  villages  and  most  of  them  are  now  hardly  known  but  as 
Americans.  Germans  lodged  themselves  at  first  in  the  towns  along  the  ea  > 
era  county  line,  but  have  set  themselves  no  such  permanent  limit.  Hardly  one 
of  the  thirty-two  counties  of  Ireland  is  unrepresented  here.  Xeail 
German  state,  large  and  small,  has  furnished  the  county  with  some  share  ol 
its  muscles  and  its  mind,  though  the  later  arrivals  appear  to  be  chiefly  fi 
the  northern  parts  of  the  empire.  Norwegians  came  in  time  to  bu)  govern- 
ment land,  and  their  names  are  found  mostly  in  town  records  of  Lagrange, 
Richmond,  Sugar  Creek  and  Whitewater.  There  has  never  been  a  noticeable 
colored  element  of  our  population,  owing,  most  likely,  to  the  superior  attrac- 
tions of  the  greater  cities  along  Lake  Michigan  and  Rock  river.  How  much 
our  foreign-born  citizens  are  of  us  as  well  as  with  us  may  he  inferred  fairly 
from  some  hundreds  of  names  of  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war.  The  number  of  for- 
eign-born citizens  now  living  here  is  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SURVEYS GENEVA  LAKE  TROUBLE ARRIVALS. 

YYhencesoever  they  came,  the  men  of  1836-61  were  mostly  of  American 
descent,  and  all  of  American  ideas,  beliefs,  feelings,  habits  and  purposes,  as 
they  well  proved  in  their  later  lives  as  well  as  in  the  current  of  all  their  lives. 
It  was  quite  natural  for  these  men,  when  their  most  pressing  home  wants  were 
supplied  by  their  activity  and  ingenuity,  to  call  themselves  together  to  or- 
ganize for  local  self-government;  and  within  six  years  a  part  of  the  lately  un- 
bounded wilderness  had  been  set  off  by  mathematically  determined  county 
lines  with  sixteen  township  subdivisions,  and  as  many  new  names  added  to 
the  national  gazetteer.  Thus  geographical  definiteness  took  the  place  of  New 
France  and  Northwest  Territory,  and  town  3  north,  range  18  east,  became 
Spring  Prairie. 

CONTEST   AT    LAKE  GENEVA. 

He  who  first  stands  upon  soil  hitherto  untrodden  by  civilized  men.  him- 
self for  the  hour  the  vanguard  of  westward-moving  empire,  instinctively  looks 
about  him  for  water  and  timber.  Mills  must  be  built,  and  water  power  sites 
are  likeliest  to  be  soon  at  a  premium.  Hence,  at  first  sight  the  attractions  at 
the  foot  of  Geneva  Lake  were  irresistible.  Similar,  though  not  equal,  oppor- 
tunities at  the  lakes  of  Delavan  and  Whitewater  and  at  the  rapid  places  of 
the  several  creeks  could  not  for  long  be  overlooked.  The  sub-contract  for 
establishing  township  lines  from  Beloit  eastward  to  Pake  Michigan  had  been 
let  in  [835  to  John  Brink  and  John  Hodgson,  who,  with  Jesse  Eggleston, 
Reuben  T.  and  William  Ostrander  as  assistants,  began  work  immediately. 
Taking  two  tiers  of  towns  at  once  they  readied  Geneva  lake  early  in  Septem- 
ber. They  meandered  ( in  surveyor's  sense  )  the  circumference  of  the  lake  and 
made  the  first  official  chart,  showing  its  form  and  area.  At  the  foot  of  the 
lake  Mr.  Brink  took  note,  on  his  own  and  Hodgson's  account,  of  -olden  possi- 
bilities there,  blazed  and  marked  a  few  trees  to  indicate  the  priority  of  his 
claim  to  the  town  site  and  water  right,  and  passed  eastward  with  his  compass 
and  field  notes.  He  was  a  native  of  <  (ntario  county.  New  York,  his  birthplace 
near  Geneva,  which  is  at  the  foot  of  Seneca  lake.  He  may  have  read  of  Pake 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


47 


Leman  and  the  city  of  the  Allobroges  and  of  John  Calvin.  However  this  may 
have  been,  he  did  not  like  the  name  of  Bigfoot,  by  which  Mrs.  Kinzie,  as  early 
as  1832.  had  mentioned  the  lake,  nor  any  of  its  Pottawattomie  equivalents  or 
alternatives — all  barbarously  uncouth  and  nearly  irreducible  to  writing.  Ik- 
then  and  there  named  the  lake  for  all  coming  time,  and  his  good  taste  has 
never  been  questioned;  for  even  the  land  office  did  nol  insist  upon  "Gei 
zhich-qua-wauk."  or  "Kish-wau-ke-toe."  The  western  end  of  this  gifl  of  the 
glaciers  had  been  passed  not  infrequently  by  officers  and  soldiers  on  their 
journeys  between  Chicago  and  Fort  Winnebago  (  Portage  City).  About  [830 
Lieut.  Jefferson  Davis  had  ridden  by  that  route,  and  in  his  latest  years  re- 
called his  pleasing  impressions  of  his  view  of  the  lake  as  he  passed. 

In  1832,  as  soon  as  Black  Hawk  and  his  tribe  were  defeated  and  driven 
across  the  Mississippi,  the  bloody  disturbances — killings,  scalpings  and  burn- 
ings— about  Xaperville  ended  forever.  It  was  thus  safe  for  Christopher 
Payne  to  leave  the  fort  at  Chicago  and  go  in  search  of  the  mill  site  at  the  foot 
of  Geneva  lake,  a  fair  description  of  which  had  been  given  him  by  a  half 
breed  trader.  He  reached  the  Xippersink  valley,  in  Bloomfield.  but  for  want 
of  food  for  a  much  longer  journey  forward  he  went  back  to  Chicago.  Had 
he  found  the  trail  and  followed  it  for  another  hour  or  two  he  would  have 
reached  the  object  of  his  search  about  three  years  earlier  than  Mr.  Brink's 
arrival,  and  the  annals  of  earliest  Lake  Geneva  would  have  losl  a  long  and 
but  moderately  interesting  chapter.  Early  in  183d  he  set  forth  again,  this 
time  from  Squaw  Prairie,  near  Belvidere,  and  with  him  George  \V.  Trimble. 
his  son-in-law.  and  Daniel  Mosher.  At  the  end  of  two  days  he  found  tin- 
mill  site  and  the  unplatted  city,  but  did  not  find  (or  be  disregarded  if  he 
found)  Mr.  Brink's  claim-marks.  Having  eaten  their  provisions,  they  went 
back,  but  came  again  in  March,  built  a  log  house  and  returned  to  Squaw 
Prairie.  Early  in  April  they  were  a  third  time  on  the  ground,  and  they  began 
to  build  a  dam  across  the  outlet. 

John  Hodgson,  of  the  surveying  party,  whose  work  bad  been  to  -take 
section  corners  within  Mr.  Brink's  township  lines,  ami  William  Ostrander  had 
been  left  to  occupy  and  improve  the  claim  a-  made  in  1S35,  and  to  prevent 
encroachment.  They,  too,  had  claims  there.  Mr.  Payne  came  while  they 
were  at  Milwaukee  whither  they  had  gone  for  provisions.  The  winter  at 
Geneva  was  long  and  lonesome,  and  Milwaukee  was  more  attractive,  even  in 

its  infancy, — else  Payne's  three  comings,  in  tin   1 of  two  months,  would 

not  have  escaped  their  earlier  notice.     On  their  return  they  trii  h  n   words 

and  turf-throwing  would  do  and  then  sent  to  Milwaukee  for  reinforcements. 
In  the  short   meantime  other  men   had    become   interested.      Brink's   men   at 


48  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Geneva  had  sold  a  quarter  interest  in  his  claim  to  Charles  A.  Noyes  and 
Orrin  Coe:  and  Payne's  sun.  Uriah,  after  the  first  defeat,  had  given  his  one- 
third  share  of  his  father's  claim  to  Robert  Wells  Warren,  for  which  the  latter 
agreed  to  help  in  recovering  and  holding  the  larger  remnant.  Air.  Warren 
was  as  bold  and  persistent  as  Payne,  and  much  more  resourceful  and  politic 
than  the  old  frontiersman.  The  needs  of  the  situation  soon  compelled  com- 
promise, and  Air.  Hodgson,  acting  in  Air.  Brink's  name,  sold  all  rights  in 
dispute  for  two  thousand  dollars.  Peace  was  restored,  but  anger  and  resent- 
ment were  not  soon  soothed  into  forget  fulness.  On  the  one  hand.  Payne  com- 
plained that  he  had  been  forced  to  "buy  his  own  pocketbook"  at  an  extortion- 
ate price.  On  the  other  side.  Brink  and  Reuben  T.  Ostrander  denied  Hodg- 
son's authority  to  sell  more  than  his  own  claim.  Other  men  were  coming  to 
the  building  of  a  new  city,  and  their  ears  were  soon  tired  of  these  complain- 
ings. 

ARRIVALS  AT  OTHER  TOWNS  IN   1836-7. 

While  this  war  was  breaking  out  Palmer  Gardner  had  settled  quite  peace- 
fully on  section  26  of  Spring  Prairie,  and  Gardner's  Prairie  was  for  long 
afterward  a  convenient  geographical  term  for  that  part  of  the  township. 
Though  then  unmarried,  he  built  a  cabin,  broke  ground,  and  raised  a  crop  of 
grain  and  potatoes.  He  was  not  without  neighbors,  even  in  1836.  Ten  or 
twelve  families  came  that  year,  and  a  few  single  men  besides. 

In  1835  Major  Jesse  Meacham,  a  soldier  of  1812-15,  and  Adolphus 
Spoor  set  out  from  Washtenaw  county,  Michigan,  to  look  before  leaping  into 
a  new  Troy.  They  marked  their  claims,  and  the  next  year  came  with  families 
and  goods  to  stay  and  pass  thence  into  local  history. 

Asa  Blood,  later  of  Sugar  Creek,  and  a  young  man  named  Roberts,  of 
whom  later  trace  is  not  thus  far  found  in  records,  built  a  cabin  near  the  village 
of  East  Troy,  on  the  north  side  of  Honey  creek.  Mr.  Roberts  appears  to 
have  made  and  sold  an  earlier  claim  in  Troy.  This  later  act  and  sign  of  pos- 
session was  in  tin-  spring  of  1836. 

James  Van  Slyke  had  first  halted,  with  his  family,  at  the  foot  of  the 
lake;  but  in  the  fall  of  [836  he  built  bis  house  near  Bigfoot's  village  in  the 
town  of  Walworth.  \  child,  named  Geneva,  had  been  born  at  the  other  end 
of  the  lake,  and  Miss  Van  Slyke  ami  her  parents  passed  the  first  winter  of  bel- 
li fe  in  the  new  house  at  Fontana. 

Harry  Kimball  came  late  in  [836  and  made  his  claim  mi  section  6,  of 
Bloomfield,  within  easy  distance  of  tin.'  settlement  at  Geneva,  and  went  home 
to  Cooperstown.  New  York.  The  next  spring  he  came  with  bis  son,  Oramel, 
and  built  his  house. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  49 

Col.  Samuel  Faulkner  Phoenix  entered  the  county,  at  its  Spring  Prairie 
gateway,  early  in  July,  183d.  After  a  few  explorations  of  the  country  about 
Duck,  Geneva  and  Swan  lakes  and  Sugar  creek,  keeping  Spring  Prairie  as  his 
base  of  operations,  he  determined  his  settlement,  early  in  August,  by  taking 
his  movables  to  the  bank  of  Swan  lake  outlet,  and  with  him  went  Allen  Per- 
kins. About  two  months  later  William  Phoenix,  the  Colonel's  cousin,  reached 
the  new  city  with  his  family.  Henry,  the  Colonel's  brother,  presently  came 
and  the  two  became  partners  in  business.  Having  founded  his  city  and  dedi- 
cated it  to  perpetual  temperance,  the  Colonel  named  it  in  honor  of  Edward  C. 
Delavan,  of  Albany.  A  few  years  later  Swan  lake  was  renamed  Delavan.  Mr. 
Perkins  soon  returned  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  county,  leaving  all  the  honors 
and  prospects  at  Delavan  to  the  house  of  Phoenix. 

Isaiah  Hamblin  came  earliest  to  Lafayette,  with  his  wife  as  evidence  of 
his  intention  to  stay.  This  was  in  June,  1836.  Rev.  Solomon  Ashle)  Dwin- 
nell,  Elias  Hicks,  Alpheus  Johnson,  Sylvanus  Langdon,  Charles  Chauncey 
Perrin,  and  Isaac  Vant  came  before  the  year's  end — at  least,  to  mark  their 
several  claims.  Mr.  Dwinnell  notes  that  the  following  winter  was  unus- 
ually severe.  Houses  had  been  built,  and  some  of  these  were  occupied  in 
spite  of  the  difficulties  of  place  and  season. 

Major  John  Davis,  though  unmarried,  built  near  Silver  lake,  in  Sugar 
Creek,  and  lived  somehow  through  the  winter  of  [836-37  under  his  own  ridge- 
pole. The  next  year  brought  him  neighbors,  but  he  moved  onward,  oul  of 
county  annals. 

Late  in  1836  John  Powers  built  his  house  in  the  town  of  I. inn.  nol  far 
from  Mr.  Payne's  at  Geneva  and  .Mr.  Kimball's  in  Bloomfield.  Hi-  family 
came  at  next  springtime,  and  thus  perfected  his  citizenship  of  Linn. 

The  settlement  at  Elkhorn  was  planned  in   [836  by  I. el '.rand   Rockwell, 
his  brother,  and  their  friend.   Horace  Coleman.     Early  in    1S37  Mr.    Rock- 
well and  Mr.  Coleman  came  to  find  the  stake  where  the  four  central  town-, 
met.     At  Spring  Prairie.  Hollis  Latham  joined  them.     Within  another   fort- 
night Mr.  Rockwell,  with  Daniel  1-;.  and  Milo  E.  Bradley,  hut  without  Mr. 
Coleman,  who  thought  not  over  well  of  the  proposed  site — perhaps  becausi 
lacked  water  power — were  again  at  the  pivotal  stake.     They  built  a  cabin  on 
section  6  of  Geneva.     Mr.  Latham  made  In-  claim  in  the  same  section,  and 
Albert  Ogden.  who  had  come  with  them  from  Milwaukee,  chose  hi-  I 
section  1  of  Delavan.    The  elder  Bradley  had  come  in  the  inten  >1  of  Lewis  J. 
Higbv.  who  afterward  bought  land  in  section  5  of  Richmond. 
'  '(4) 


50  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

THE    FIRST   SETTLER. 

Whatever  honor  may  be  due  to  the  memory  of  the  first  actual  settler 
within  the  county,  that  is  the  unquestionable  right  of  Christopher  Payne,  a 
man  who — to  compare  the  smaller  with  the  greater — was  much  of  the  texture 
and  quality  of  the  famous  frontiersmen  of  the  post-Revolutionary  period,  and 
a  not  unworthy  forerunner  of  the  men  of  the  pioneer  years.  His  priority  of 
settlement,  though  it  was  by  a  few  weeks  only,  is  clear  enough,  and  his  easily 
admitted  claim  to  such  distinction  may  be  regarded  as  yet  stronger  from  his 
adventure  in  1832.  As  to  the  great  dispute.  Judge  Gale  and  Mr.  Simmons, 
both  high-minded  men  and  good  lawyers,  were  of  opinion  that  Mr.  Brink 
was  wholly  in  the  right.  Had  neither  lie  nor  Mr.  Payne  ever  crossed  the 
county  line  the  first  settlement  would  have  been  made  early  in  1836,  and  the 
site  of  Lake  Geneva  would  not  long  have  been  overlooked  nor  unoccupied. 
Before  the  end  of  1837  every  town  was  more  or  less  settled,  though  neither 
the  towns  nor  the  county  had  been  officially  named.  In  earlier  records,  as  at 
the  land-office,  these  minor  divisions  are  described  as  towns  1,  2,  3,  4,  north 
of  base  line  on  the  boundary  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  ranges  15,  16,  17,  18 
east  of  meridian  passing  northward  along  the  western  line  of  Lafayette 
county. 

CONTESTED   CLAIMS. 

The  first  comers  sometimes  found  worse  to  meet  and  overcome  than  the 
sullenly  retiring  Indians,  hard  winters  and  all  the  hardships  of  breaking 
ground  for  planting  a  new  community.  To  mark  a  few  trees,  or  even  to  build 
a  hut,  did  not  in  every  instance  secure  the  actual  settler  in  possession  of  his 
claim;  though  public  opinion,  as  represented  by  his  neighbors,  was  on  the  side 
of  equity — that  is,  was  favorable  to  the  man  who  came  to  stay  as  against 
grasping  speculators.  Judge  Gale  wrote  of  these  perniciously  enterprising 
gentry:  "The  alternating  prairies,  openings,  and  groves  of  heavy  timber, 
meandered  with  numerous  creeks  and  small  rivers  having  an  abundance  of 
water  power,  early  attracted  attention  of  explorers;  and  while  the  surveyors 
were  at  work  in  the  spring  ami  summer  nt'iN^o  these  adventurers  were  thread- 
ing the  valleys  and  selecting  advantageous  sites  for  imaginary  villages  and 
cities.  These  baseless  claims  were  sometimes  insisted  on  as  real,  when  neces- 
sary to  give  priority  over  some  'intruding'  actual  settler  who  had  made  his 
claim  at  the  same  place;  and  the  slight  differences  of  memory  between  con- 
tending claimants  were  settled  in  favor  of  him  who  could  rally  to  his  aid  the 
most  pugnacious  followers." 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  51 

Mr.  Dwinnell  wrote  that  in  [837  the  settlers  organized  associations  for 
mutual  protection  in  holding  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  each, — each  un- 
married woman  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Fathers  wen  allowed  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  for  each  minor  son.  Committees  were  chosen  to  tr) 
and  to  settle  disputed  titles.  An  instance  of  committee-justice  is  told.  The 
defendant  in  possession  was  found  to  have  a  clear  right,  but  was  obliged  to 
pay  half  of  the  costs  of  an  unreasonahle  neighbor's  attempl  to  eject  him.  Few 
settlers  had  money,  but  such  as  had  valuable  timber  claims  were  helped  by 
the  money  lenders  at  the  moderate  rate  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  for  three 
years'  use.  Such  easy  terms  were  quite  providential  for  men  who  had  soon 
exhausted  such  slender  means  as  the  cost  of  their  westward  movement  had 
left  them.  To  these  several  aids  to  prosperous  settlement  was  added  the  long- 
famous  currency  of  the  period.  Since  wampum  had  just  been  demonetized, 
this  paper  stuff,  when  brought  to  this  side  of  the  lake,  was  in  effect  legal 
tender;  but  not  so  if  the  latest  holder,  who  had  had  no  choice  but  to  accept  it, 
should  try  to  move  it  in  the  direction  of  its  source  at  Kalamazoo  or  Tecumseh 

LAND    SALES. 

A  land  sale  of  one  hundred  townships  in  southeastern  Wisconsin  was 
advertised  by  the  land  office  at  Milwaukee,  to  begin  November  i<>.  1838.  The 
settlers,  mostly  unprepared  to  pay.  asked  and  gained  a  delay  until  February 
18.  1839.  Sales  began  with  townships  1  to  10.  ranges  from  lake  shore  west- 
ward, and  amounted  to  four  or  five  townships  daily.  The  lands  of  this  count) 
were  sold  between  February  25th  and  March  5U1.  and  the  settlers  held  their 
own  claims.  Sales  were  made  to  highest  bidder  on  each  tract,  starting  at  I 
government's  minimum  price,  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre.  Men 
of  Walworth  would  have  shown  themselves  degenerate  descendants  of  their 
eastern  ancestors  had  they  not  found  some  useful  device  by-  which  to  prevent 
competitive  bidding.  The  several  home  associations  were  repre  ented  by 
agents  empowered  to  buy  for  their  non-attending  neighbors,  and  these  agents 
were  numerous  enough  to  constitute  an  effective  physical  force  if.  in  their 
judgment,  fair  play  should  need  such  help.  If  the  minimum  price  was  rai 
an  agent  would  follow  until  his  bid  became  highest— as  high,  if  necessary, 
twenty  dollars.     If  payment  was  not  made  that  day  the  bidding  w  1  md 

the  same  land  was  started  next  day  at  the  lowest  rate,  and  was  usually  sold 
at  that  price  without  further  annoyance  from  pre',  ion-  competitor-.  If,  how- 
ever, a  speculator  was  disposed  1-  renev  hi-  bidding,  the  affair  became  the 
concern  of  all  the  agents.     Such  presumption  wa >n  beaten  oul  of  the  man 


52  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

who  dared  to  oppose  superior  numbers,  or  was  washed  away  in  the  otherwise 
undefiled  water  of  Menominee  river.  Christopher  Payne  and  Major  Meacham 
were  not  the  only  ready-witted,  stout-willed,  rude-handed  men  then  in  Wal- 
worth. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


POLITICAL   ORGANIZATION. 


Wisconsin,  having  passed  from  French  to  English  and  thence  to  Ameri- 
can possession,  was  included  in  the  old  Northwest  Territory  until  1800.  when 
it  became  part  of  Indiana  Territory.  In  [809  it  was  joined  to  Illinois  Terri- 
tory, and  in  1818  to  Michigan  Territory,  the  latter  organized  in  1805  In 
1836  the  territory  of  Wisconsin  (less  the  northern  peninsula  given  to  Michi- 
gan to  placate  her  for  the  loss  of  the  Ohio  strip)  was  organized,  and  in  1838 
Iowa  was  detached  from  its  imperial  domain.  On  admission  as  the  thirtieth 
American  state,  in  1848.  it  suffered  the  loss  of  the  region  between  St.  Croix 
river  and  the  upper  Mississippi. 

With  territorial  government  came  need  of  new  counties.  Iowa.  <  raw- 
ford  and  Milwaukee  were  at  once  set  off  from  Brown  (with  Des  Moines  and 
Dubuque  across  the  river).  In  1838  Milwaukee  county,  though  much  the 
smallest  of  these,  was  most  sub-divided,  and  one  of  the  new  counties  was 
named  for  the  then  chancellor  of  the  state  of  New  York,  Reuben  1  [yde  Wal- 
worth, of  Saratoga,  the  last  of  a  short,  illustrious  line  of  judges  (beginning 
in  1777  and  ending  with  1847).  But  not  as  chancellor  was  he  thus  honored 
in  Wisconsin.  He  was  also  president  of  the  New  York  Stale  Temperance 
Society,  and  his  name,  with  that  of  Edward  C.  Delavan,  of  Albany,  were 
thought  peculiarly  fit  for  a  new  county  and  one  of  its  towns, — since  the  town 
was  already  founded  on  a  moral  idea,  and  pious  men  of  Delavan,  Spring 
Prairie  and  Geneva  were  trying  to  build  the  county  on  the  same  foundation. 
Judge  Walworth  was  born  in  1788  and  died  in  1807.  In  1848  he  was  the 
defeated  Democratic  candidate  for  governor,  his  name  on  the  ("ass  and 
Butler  ticket  of  the  divided  party.  He  lived  to  compile  a  valuable  genealogy 
of  his  mother's  family,  descendants  of  John  Hyde,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut. 

Walworth  county  lies  along  the  northern  line  of  Illinois,  it-  eastern 
about  twenty-seven  miles  from  the  slightly  irregular  shore  of  ]  ake  Michigan. 
It  is  twenty-four  miles  square,  its  center  in  latitude  \2  41'  north,  and  longi- 
tude 88°  32'  west.  The  bordering  counties  are  Rock  on  the  west,  Jefferson 
and  Waukesha  north.  Racine  and  Kenosha  east,  Boone  and  McHenry  south. 
Its  sixteen  townships  were  in  1838  included  in  five  towns,  of  wi  ivan 


54  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

was  the  southwestern  quarter  of  the  county,  Elkhorn  the  northwestern  quar- 
ter, Geneva  the  southeastern  quarter,  while  the  northeastern  quarter  was  just- 
ly divided  between  Spring  Prairie  and  Troy.  In  1842  a  census  was  taken  for 
reapportionment  of  legislative  representation.  Sheriff  Mallory  and  Under 
Sheriff  Oatman  performed  this  work,  and  Mr.  Davis  recorded  their  returns 
in  Vol.  1,  pp.  422-446,  of  Mortgages.  It  is  evident  from  the  face  of  this 
record  that  the  returns  were  clerically  well  made.  Mr.  Davis  was  a  shrewd 
and  competent  business  man,  but  his  spelling  and  writing  were  rather  old- 
fashioned,  even  for  seventy  years  ago.  He  followed  his  copy  with  faithful 
intent,  and  the  list  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five  names  has  as  few  errors 
as  most  of  such  records.  Only  the  heads  of  households  are  shown  by  name, 
with  number  of  males  and  females  set  against  each  name.  It  is  plain  that 
many  unmarried  men  thus  missed  entry  by  name;  for  several  households 
numbered  from  twelve  to  twenty-five.  The  sum  of  this  enumeration,  if  the 
register's  crabbed  figures  are  rightly  read  and  added,  was  four  thousand  six 
hundred  and  eighteen.  The  five  towns  had  become  nine,  and  a  tenth  was  fore- 
shown by  returning  two  sheets  for  Troy.  Richmond  and  Whitewater  had 
been  taken  from  Elkhorn;  Darien  and  Walworth  (the  latter  including 
Sharon)  from  Delavan;  while  Geneva  and  Spring  Prairie  were  unchanged. 
In  a  year  or  more  afterward  each  land-office  division  had  been  named  and 
organized  for  home  rule.  The  village  of  Elkhorn,  laid  out  in  1837,  spread 
itself  loosely  into  four  sections,  lying  in  as  many  towns.  This  was  soon  found 
inconvenient  for  various  county  purposes,  and  in  1846  section  1  of  Delavan, 
section  6  of  Geneva,  section  31  of  Lafayette,  and  section  36  of  the  town  of 
Elkhorn  were  set  off  as  a  new  town  and  village  of  Elkhorn,  and  the  larger 
remnant  of  the  old  town  was  renamed  Sugar  Creek.  Thus,  the  list  of  towns 
became  complete :  Bloomfield,  Darien,  Delavan,  East  Troy,  Elkhorn,  Geneva, 
Hudson,  Lafayette,  Lagrange,  Linn,  Richmond,  Sharon,  Spring  Prairie, 
Sugar  Creek,  Troy,  Walworth,  Whitewater.  In  1865  Hudson  was  newly 
named  Lyons.  (In  the  newer  county  of  St.  Croix  the  names  of  Hudson, 
Richmond,  Springfield  and  Troy  are  repeated.) 

CONGRESSIONAL  AND  LEGISLATIVE   DISTRICTS. 

At  the  four  sessions  of  the  second  Territorial  Assembly.  1838-40,  one 
member  sat  in  the  Council  and  two  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the 
joint  district  of  Rock  and  Walworth  counties.  At  both  sessions  of  the  third 
Assembly  (December,  1840,  and  December,  1841  i.  four  members  appeared  in 
the  lower  House.     At  the  fourth  Assembly  two  councihnen  sat  for  the  dis- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


55 


trict.     At  the  fifth  (.and  last)  Assembly,   1847-48,  these  counties  were  separ- 
ately represented  in  both  Houses. 

When  Wisconsin  put  on  statehood,  in  1848,  the  counties  of  Jefferson, 
Green,  Milwaukee,  Racine  (including  Kenosha),  Rock  and  Walworth  con- 
stituted the  first  of  her  two  congressional  districts.  In  1852  lefferson.  Green 
and  Rock  were  made  part  of  a  new  district,  the  other  counties  remaining  the 
first  of  three  districts.  In  186 J  the  first  district  was  left  unchanged,  though 
the  state  had  gained  three  members  of  Congress.  In  1872  .Milwaukee  was 
dropped  and  Rock  added.  In  1882  Waukesha  was  exchanged  for  Jefferson. 
From  1892  to  1912  the  counties  of  the  first  district  have  been  ( rreen,  Kenosha, 
Racine,  Rock  and  Walworth. 

For  the  state  Senate  thirty-three  members  were  chosen  biennially-  [or 
odd-numbered  districts  in  even-numbered  years,  for  even-numbered  districts 
in  odd-numbered  years — until  1882,  when  the  sessions  becacic  biennial  and 
the  terms  quadrennial.  Walworth  was  a  senate  district  from  1848  to  1870, — 
at  first  numbered  fourteenth.  In  1853  it  was  numbered  twelfth.  In  1872  it 
was  joined  to  Kenosha  and  numbered  eighth.  In  1892  it  was  joined  with 
several  towns  of  Rock  to  make  the  twenty- fourth.  This  apportionment  was 
found  unconstitutional,  because  not  composed  of  entire  assembly  districts,  and 
in  1896  the  two  assembly  districts  of  Walworth,  with  one  of  Jefferson,  made 
up  the  twenty-third  senate  district.  Since  1902  the  whole  of  these  two  coun- 
ties compose  the  twenty-third. 

From  1848  to  185 1  the  county  chose  five  assemblymen.  The  towns  of 
the  first  district  were  East  Troy,  Spring  Prairie,  Troy.  Those  of  the  second 
district  were  Lagrange,  Richmond,  Whitewater;  third  district,  Darien,  Linn, 
Sharon,  Walworth;  fourth  district,  Bloomfield,  Geneva,  Hudson;  fifth  district, 
Delavan,  Elkhorn,  Lafayette,  Sugar  Creek.  m 

From  1852  to  1855  there  were  six  districts:  First,  Elkhorn,  Geneva, 
Hudson;  second,  Lafayette,  Sugar  Creek,  Troy;  third,  East  Troy,  Spring 
Prairie;  fourth,  Lagrange,  Richmond,  Whitewater;  fifth,  Darien,  Delavan, 
Sharon;  sixth,   Bloomfield,  Linn,   Walworth. 

From  1856  to  18(15  the  county  was  divided  quarterly:  the  Geneva  dis- 
trict numbered  one,  the  Delavan  district  two,  the  Whitewater  districl   tli 
the  East  Troy  district  (with  Elkhorn)  four. 

From  1866  to  1883.  three  districts:     Fir  i.  Darien,  Delavan,  Richmond, 
Sharon,   Walworth;  second.    Bloomfield,    Elkhorn,   Geneva,    Lafayette,    Linn, 
Lyons,   Spring   Prairie:   third,    East   Troy,    Lagrange,    Sugar    '  reek,    Tro 
Whitewater. 


56  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

From  1884  to  1890  (  with  biennial  terms)  the  western  half  of  the  county, 
less  the  town  of  Walworth,  was  the  first  district.  The  rest  of  the  county, 
including  Elkhorn,  was  the  second  district. 

From  1892  to  1900  the  northern  half,  with  Elkhorn,  became  the  first 
district,  the  eight  southern  towns  the  second  district.  One  more  reduction,  in 
1902,  has  made  the  whole  county  one  assembly  district. 

This  steady  loss  of  representation  is  due  to  the  small  increase  of  popu- 
lation here  since  the  monetary  panic  of  1857,  while  Milwaukee  and  the  north- 
ern counties  have  multiplied  mightily.  The  several  Federal  enumerations 
have  shown  but  one  decrease — between  18^0  and  1870: 

1840  2,61 1  1880    26,249 

1850  17.832  1890    27,860 

i860  26,496  1900    29.259 

1870  25,972  [910    29,614 

The  legislative  membership  is  constitutionally  fixed  at  thirty-three  sena- 
tors and  one  hundred  assemblymen,  and  thus  Walworth's  loss  is  gain  else- 
where in  the  state.  But  the  county  has  yet  some  noticeable  influence  in  legis- 
lation, and  she  is  yet  of  some  appreciable  political  value. 

JUDICIAL    CIRCUITS. 

In  1837  citizens  of  the  present  county  of  Walworth  went  to  Milwaukee 
as  plaintiffs  or  defendants  in  cases  at  law.  In  1838  the  county  was  attached 
temporarily,  for  judicial  purposes,  to  the  new  county  of  Racine.  In  April, 
1839,  a  federal  judge  held  a  term  of  court  at  Elkhorn.  The  federal  judicial 
district  of  eastern  Wisconsin  includes  Walworth.  One  citizen  of  this  county, 
the  late  George  Nelson  Wiswell,  was  President  Harrison's  federal  marshal 
for  this  district. 

From  the  beginning  of  state  government  this  county  has  been  of  the 
first  judicial  circuit, — until  1869,  with  Green,  Kenosha.  Racine  and  Rock: 
since  that  year,  with  Kenosha  and  Racine  only.  Circuit  judges  are  chosen 
at  April  elections,  their  term  of  six  years  beginning  in  the  following  Janu- 
ary.    The  current  term  of  office  began  on  the  first   Monday  of  January.  1908. 

fudges  of  probate  were  chosen  in  the  period  between  [840  and  1849. 
A  line  of  county  judges  began  in  January,  1850.  Their  functions  were  sub- 
stantially those  of  the  probate  judges,  with  slight  additions  to  their  jurisdic- 
tion in  later  years,  until  1907.  "An  act  to  confer  civil  ami  criminal  jurisdic- 
tion on  the  countv  court  of  Walworth  county"  was  published  June  20th  of 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  57 

that  year.  By  this  act  the  county  court  has  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the 
circuit  court  in  all  actions  of  law  and  equity  in  which  the  sum  at  issue  does 
not  exceed  twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  in  actions  of  foreclosure  of  mort- 
gages and  mechanic's  liens;  in  actions  for  divorces  and  annulment  of  mar- 
riage contract;  of  title  to  real  estate;  of  partition  of  real  estate;  and  in  all 
criminal  cases  except  murder,  manslaughter  and  homicide.  Issues  of  fad 
may  be  tried  with  or  without  jury.  Since  iqoi  special  terms  of  county  court 
may  be  held  at  Whitewater.  Of  course,  all  the  county  judges  have  been 
lawyers  of  good  personal  and  professional  repute;  though,  in  1885,  a  some- 
what vigorous  effort  was  made  to  open  the  way  to  the  county  bench  for  men 
not  bred  to  the  "insipid  clamor  of  the  bar."  The  act  of  1907  seems  not  likely 
to  encourage  another  such  movement. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


POLITICAL    REPRESENTATION. 


At  the  first  session  of  the  second  Territorial  Assembly  (which  was  the 
first  session  held  at  Madison),  beginning  November  26,  1838,  Col.  James 
Maxwell,  of  the  town  of  Walworth,  appeared  in  Council  for  the  counties 
of  Rock  and  Walworth,  and  held  his  seat  through  that  and  the  next  As- 
sembly, which  latter  body  adjourned  February  19,  1842.  To  the  fourth 
Assembly  came  Charles  Minton  Baker,  of  Geneva,  serving  from  December 
5,  1842,  to  February  3,  1846.  His  colleague  for  the  joint  district,  which 
now  had  two  members,  was  Edward  Vernon  Whiton,  afterward  the  first 
chief  justice  of  the  Wisconsin  supreme  court.  A  high  estimate  has  been 
placed  upon  the  personal  character  and  judicial  fitness  of  Judge  Whiton. 
They  who  best  knew  Judge  Baker  rated  his  ability  little  if  any  lower  and 
his  character  quite  as  highly.  At  the  fifth  (and  last)  Territorial  Assembly, 
Dr.  Henry  Clark,  of  Walworth,  served  in  Council  from  January  4,  1847,  to 
.March   13.   1848. 

Othni  Beardsley,  of  Troy,  sat  in  the  second  Assembly  as  representative 
of  this  part  of  the  joint  district.  At  the  next  Assembly  the  district  represen- 
tation was  doubled,  and  Dr.  Jesse  Carr  Mills,  of  Spring  Prairie,  with  Hugh 
Long,  of  Darien,  were  chosen;  but  Mr.  Long  resigned  after  one  session 
and  Dr.  James  Tripp,  of  Whitewater,  served  for  the  second  session.  Dr. 
Tripp,  with  John  M.  Capron,  of  Geneva,  were  chosen  to  the  fourth  As- 
sembly, serving  at  the  first  session.  At  the  second  session  William  Ayres 
Bartlett,  of  Delavan,  took  Dr.  Tripp's  seat.  At  the  third  session  Salmon 
Thomas,  of  Darien,  and  Dr.  Mills  replaced  Messrs.  Bartlett  and  Capron. 
At  the  fourth  session  this  unstable  membership  was  composed,  for  Wal- 
worth, now  detached  from  Rock,  of  Warner  Earl,  of  Whitewater,  and 
Gaylord  Graves,  of  East  Troy.  The  last  Assembly  held  two  regular  sessions, 
with  a  special  session  between.  At  the  first  of  these  appeared  in  Council,  Dr. 
Henry  (lark,  and  as  representatives  Palmer  Gardner,  of  Spring  Prairie,  and 
Charles  A.  Bronson,  of  Lagrange.  To  the  other  sessions  went  Eleazar 
Wakeley,  of  Whitewater,  and  George  Walworth,  of  Spring  Prairie,  as  rep- 
resentatives. 


bee 
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Assemble  Districts  at  Six  AppoRTionr-iENTs 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  59 

Among  the  earliest  attentions  at  the  capital  to  the  affairs  of  this  county, 
and  previous  to  1838,  was  the  appointment  of  justices  of  the  peace  by  Gov- 
ernor Dodge  and  the  consenting  Council.  There  were  William  Cell  for 
Walworth,  William  Bowman  for  Sugar  Creek.  Gaylord  Graves  for  I  ..  1 
Troy,  Truman  Hibbard  for  Troy,  Thomas  McKaig  for  Geneva,  Col.  Perez 
Merrick  for  Lafayette,  Benjamin  Carpenter  Pearce  for  Spring  Prairie.  Jedu- 
thun  Spooner  for  Sugar  Creek,  Salmon  Thomas  for  Darien  and  Delavan, 
and  Israel  Williams,  Jr.,  for  Linn. 

The  county  having  been  set  off  by  legislative  act  early  in  183N,  there 
was  yet  time  within  the  same  year  to  nominate  and  elect  county  officers.  The 
chosen  were  for  sheriff,  Sheldon  Walling,  of  Geneva  1  near  Elkhorn)  ;  for 
register  of  deeds,  LeGrand  Rockwell,  of  Elkhorn  village;  for  treasurer,  Will- 
iam Hollinshead,  of  Delavan;  for  surveyor,  Edward  Norris,  of  Delavan;  for 
coroner,  Hollis  Latham,  of  Elkhorn;  for  county  commissioners:  For  one 
year,  Benjamin  Ball,  of  Linn;  for  two  years,  William  Bowman,  of  Sugar 
Creek;  for  three  years,  Nathaniel  Bell,  of  Lafayette.  In  that  year  the  vote 
of  the  county,  confirmed  by  the  Legislature,  made  Elkhorn  village  the  county 
seat.  The  other  competitor  villages  were  Delavan.  Geneva  and  Spring 
Prairie. 

The  county  commissioners  met  and  organized,  and  the  county  officers 
began  their  terms  of  office  and  their  duties  January  7,  1839,  and  that  day 
may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  birthdays  of  Walworth  county.  The  records 
remain  to  show  how  the  commissioners  and  the  register  of  deeds  discharged 
their  respective  functions.  The  treasurer  and  coroner  lived  to  be  called  old 
men.  and  yet  died  before  they  had  become  no  longer  useful  to  their  fellow 
citizens,  whom  they  had  served  in  many  ways.  Their  ability  was  equal  to 
the  needs  of  any  service  their  modesty  would  permit  them  to  undertake, 
their  official  integrity  unquestioned,  and  their  lives  blameless.  Neither  of 
them  was  ever  known  to  evade  a  plain  duty  or  to  perform  it  carelessly  or  in 
other  ways  badly.  Less  is  now  known  of  the  surveyor,  and  nothing  to  his 
personal  or  official  discredit.  The  sheriff  had  been,  as  he  led  his  neighbors  to 
think,  suppose,  or  concede,  a  brigadier-general  of  New  York  militia;  though, 
at  his  death  in  1875,  his  widow  could  not  find  his  commission  among  hi  - 
half-dozen  best-kept  papers,  nor  remember  which  Governor  had  signed  it. 
The  adjutant-general"s  office  at  Albany  may  contain  thi  cords  of  such  an 
appointment.  He  was  competent  to  instruct  in  the  rudiments,  at  lea  t,  ol 
Scott's  drill  of  the  company,  and  he  had  some  skill  with  drum-sticks.  I  Ms 
duties  as  sheriff  seem  to  have  been  performed  fairly,  and  in  the  condition 
of  the  county  roads   for  at  least  half  of  the  year  such  duty  as  that  of  mini- 


60  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

moning  jurors  must  have  tried  the  resoluteness  of  even  a  brigadier-general. 

He  was  an  unconvertible  Democrat,  and  hence  was  seldom  afterward  called 

into  public  service. 

The  following  is  a  transcript  from  the  journal  of  the  first  meeting  of 

the  county  commissioners : 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  com.  of  Walworth  County  held  at  the  house  of 

Daniel  E.  Bradley  on  Monday  the  7  day  of  Jany   1839  Present  Benjamin 

Ball  Nathaniel  Bell  and  William   Bowman  and  proceeded  to  appoint  V   A 

McCraken   Clerk   of  the  board   of  Com.      License   was  granted   to   R.    W. 

Warren  to  keep  a  Tavern  in  the  village  of  Geneva  untill   the  first  day  of 

January  1840.  for  the  sum  of  five  dollars 

"The   meeting  adjourned   to   meet  again   on   the    18th   day  of   March, 

1839  at  the  house  of  Daniel  E.  Bradley 

"Attest   V.    A.    McCraken 

"Clerk- 
Thus   the   record    runs,    word,    letter   and   point.      At   the   third   session. 

April  1st,  store  licenses  were  given  to  Andrew  Ferguson,  at  Geneva,  and  to 

Henrv  &  Samuel  F.   Phoenix,  at  Delavan;  and  the  fee  imposed  with  each 

license  was  ten  dollars.     To  Othni  Beardsley,  at  Troy,  Ansel  A.  Hemenway. 

at  Spring  Prairie,  Greenleaf  Stevens  Warren,  at  Geneva,  and  Israel  Williams, 

at  Walworth,  tavern  licenses  were  granted  at  five  dollars  each.     The  fiscal 

statement  made  at  the  end  of  1839  is  thus  shown: 

Received    $1,874.64 

Paid    out    1,786.69 

Balance  in  treasury    $      87.95 

The  chairmanship  of  this  first  board  of  commissioners  was  given  to 
Major  Bell,  though  Mr.  McCraken  did  not  record  this  interesting  fact 
until  a  later  date.  In  1840  Christopher  Douglass,  of  Walworth,  appeared  in 
place  of  Mr.  Ball,  whose  term  had  expired,  and  served  two  years  of  his 
term  as  chairman,  Major  Bell  having  resigned  that  post.  In  184T  Gaylord 
Graves,  of  East  Troy,  followed  Mr.  Bowman,  and  was  chairman  in  1842. 
George  W.  Arms,  of  Spring  Prairie,  succeeded  Major  Bell  as  member  for 
[842,  :in(l  Robert  llollcy,  of  Hudson,  followed  Mr.  Douglass,  who  had  re- 
signed  in  that  year.  The  clerks  of  the  board  were  Volncy  Anderson  Mc- 
Craken, of  Lagrange,  for  one  year;  Hollis  Latham  for  two  years;  and  Milo 
Kelsey,  of  Delavan  (if  not  then  of  Darien),   for  part  of  1842. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  6l 

The  greater  part  of  the  boarcTs  business  was  to  license  taverns  and 
stores,  to  lay  out  roads  and  road  districts,  to  establish  school  districts  and 
appoint  inspectors,  to  make  juror  lists,  and  to  name  election  judges  and 
designate  polling  places.  At  the  session  of  March  18,  1839,  jurors  were 
selected  for  ser\-ice  at  the  April  term  of  court:  Grand  jurors,  Asa  I'.lood, 
John  Bruce,  George  Clark,  Nicholas  S.  Comstock,  Christopher  Douglass, 
Solomon  A.  Dwinnell,  diaries  Dyer,  Palmer  Gardner,  Josepli  Griffin,  Morris 
F.  Hawes,  Elias  Jennings,  Zerah  Mead.  Roderick  .Merrick.  Marshall  New- 
ell, Henry  Phoenix,  Jeduthun  Spooner,  Adolphus  Spoor,  Salmon  Thomas, 
James  Tripp,  Robert  \Y.  Warren,  William  Weed,  Daniel  Whitmore,  Israel 
Williams.  Petit  jurors,  Charles  M.  Baker.  Joseph  Barker,  William  A.  Bart- 
lett,  Othni  Beardsley,  Milo  E.  Bradley,  Gorham  Bunker,  Jared  B.  Cornish, 
Gaylord  Graves,  Solomon  Harvey,  William  Hibbard.  Elias  Hicks,  William 
Hollinshead,  Willard  B.  Johnson,  George  W.  Kendall,  John  Lippitt,  Allen 
McBride,  James  Maxwell,  William  K.  May,  Austin  L.  Merrick,  Benjamin 
C.  Pearce,  Allen  Perkins,  Edwin  Perry,  William  Stork,  Elijah  Worthington. 
The  board  was  petitioned  to  lay  out  a  road  from  Elkhorn  village  to  Mr. 
Barker's  (in  Sugar  Creek)  and  thence  to  the  north  line  of  the  county. 

At  the  session  of  April  1st  a  special  election,  for  choice  of  township 
officers,  was  ordered,  to  take  place  Thursday,  May  9th.  Polling  places  were 
designated  and  election  judges  appointed:  For  Delavan,  at  Milo  Kelsey's, 
with  Henry  Phoenix,  William  Hollinshead  and  John  Bruce  as  judges;  for 
Elkhorn,  at  Elijah  Worthington's  (in  Lagrange),  with  George  W.  Kendall, 
Tared  B.  Cornish  and  Zerah  Mead  as  judges;  for  Geneva,  at  Roberl  W. 
Warren's,  with  Charles  M.  Goodsell.  William  K.  May  and  Thomas  McKaig 
as  judges:  for  Spring  Prairie,  at  Ansel  A.  Hemenway's,  with  Thomas 
Miller,  Roderick  Merrick  and  Solomon  A.  Dwinnell  as  judges;  for  Wal- 
worth, at  James  A.  Maxwell's,  with  Christopher  Douglass,  William  Bell  and 
Amos  Bailey  as  judges. 

A  few  extracts  from  records  may  show  some  of  the  more  importanl 
work  of  the  board  between  1839  and  1842: 

May  6,  1839 — William  Stork,  Morris  Ross  and  Thomas  McKaig  ap- 
pointed road  viewers  and  directed  to  lav  out  a  road  from  Geneva  village  by 
nearest  and  best  route  to  Lamphear's  house  (in  Bloomfield)  and  thence  to 
state   line    near    E.    W.     Brigham's.  *     Palmer   Gardner,     Richard 

Chenery  and  Daniel  Salisbury  directed  to  view  mad  from  northeast  comer 
of  section  2^,  (Spring  Prairie),  vvesl  our  and  a  half  miles,  thence  south  one 
mile.  *  *  *  James  Harkness,  Sylvester  < ..  Smith  and  David  S.  Elting 
to  lav  a  road  from  a  point  on  east  line  of  section  23  1  Lafayette),  westward 


62  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

on  or  as  near  half  section  line  as  the  ground  will  permit,  to  section  26,  thence 
to  a  road  to  Sugar  Creek  Prairie  or  to  a  road  from  Elkhorn  (village)  to 
said  Prairie.  *  *  *  Salmon  Thomas,  William  Hollinshead  and  Sam- 
uel F.  Phoenix  to  la)-  road  from  Geneva  and  Beloit  territorial  road  at  suit- 
able place  on  northwest  quarter  of  section  5  (Linn)  to  run  northwest  to 
Charles  S.  Bailey's  house  (town  of  Delavan),  thence  to  southwest  corner 
of  Mr.  Phoenix's  field,  by  the  grist  mill,  to  Racine  and  Janesville  road  on 
Rock  Prairie  (in  Darien).  *  *  *  Jacob  G.  Sanders,  John  Boorman 
and  William  Bell  to  lay  out  road  from  quarter  section  stake,  east  line  of 
section  17  (Walworth),  west  through  middle  of  section  to  west  side  of 
Bigfoot  Prairie,  thence  by  nearest  and  best  road  to  intersect  Beloit  and 
Southport  road  at  or  near  west  line  of  section  11  (Sharon)  or  to  west  line  of 
county.  *  *  *  Elijah  Worthington,  George  Esterly  and  Edward  Nor- 
ris  to  view  road  from  point  where  the  road  to  Orendorf's  ferry  through 
Eagle  Prairie  (Waukesha  county)  meets  north  line  of  county,  thence  south- 
westerly to  or  near  quarter  stake  on  north  line  of  section  28  (Lagrange). 
Also,  to  view  road  beginning  at  or  near  the  point  where  the  Milwaukee  and 
Janesville  territorial  road  crosses  north  line  of  section  27,  following  section 
line  west  as  far  as  land  will  admit  good  road,  thence  southwest  to  meet 
line  of  county,  in  the  direction  of  Janesville.  *  *  *  At  this  session 
fourteen  bills  against  the  county  were  allowed.  No.  1  was  that  of  Andrew 
Ferguson,  two  dollars  and  seventy  cents.  The  sum  of  this  first  batch  of 
county  orders  Avas  one  hundred  and  twelve  dollars  and  twenty  cents,  but  no 
items  of  these  bills  are  recorded. 

July  1,  1839 — Board  ordered  a  highway  tax  of  five  mills  on  all  real  and 
personal   property.     *     *  Edwin    Brainard   was    allowed     twenty-seven 

dollar>  fur  committing  a  prisoner  to  the  jail  at  Milwaukee.  *  *  *  Ten 
county     orders    allowed,     amounting    to    sixty-two    dollars.      *  *     Col. 

Perez  Merrick  mentioned  as  county  assessor. 

September  9-12,  1839 — County  divided  into  three  assessment  districts: 
District  1,  the  southern  tier  of  towns  with  Darien  and  the  west  half  of 
Delavan;  district  2,  Hudson,  Geneva,  east  half  of  Delavan.  Elkhorn,  Sugar 
Creek,  Lafayette,  and  Spring  Prairie;  district  3,  the  northern  tier,  with 
Richmond.  *  *  *  Plat  and  minutes  of  village  of  Elkhorn  received  and 
recorded.  *  *  *  LeGrand  Rockwell  appointed  to  sell  lots  in  that  vil- 
lage. (This  refers  to  the  county's  quarter  of  section  36,  town  3  north,  range 
if)  east,  in  which  are  the  county  buildings.  )      *  *     Wolf  bounty  fixed 

at  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  scalp. 

February  5,  [840 — Twenty-eight  dollars  and  fifty  cents  paid  as  boun- 
ties  for  nineteen  wolf  scalps. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  63 

January  5,   1841— Wolf  bounty  raised  to  three  dollars,  until  July    1st. 

March  5,  1841 — Resolved,  that  it  is  expedient  and  in  accordance  with 
the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  count)  to  proceed  to  conclude 
the  contract  for  building  a  court  house  in  this  county. 

April  4.  1842 — The  board  of  county  commissioners  adjourned  without  a 

day. 

\\  ith  the  coming  of  a  larger  order  of  county  administration  these  now 
ex-commissioners  were  not  mustered  out  of  public  employment.  Their  short 
service  had  tried  and  proved  their  quality  and  had  trained  them  fairly  for 
further  public  usefulness,  as  the  several  county  and  town  records  well  show. 
The  county  board  of  supervisors,  with  nine  members  (Major  Meacham,  of 
Troy,  absent),  met  September  6,  1842.  and  chose  as  its  chairman  John  M. 
Capron,  of  Geneva,  a  man  of  legislative  experience,  and  as  clerk,  John  Fish. 
In  1846  a  member  was  added  for  the  new  town  of  Elkhorn,  and  the  old 
town  received  the  name  Sugar  Creek.  In  1862,  compliant  with  a  statute  of 
the  previous  year,  the  board  was  reduced  to  five  members,  one  for  each 
assembly  district  and  a  member  for  the  county  at  large.  This  measure  of 
policy  or  of  economy — hardly  a  war  measure — was  in  operation  eight  years. 
Members  were  elected  biennially  for  a  two-year  term.  In  1870  the  old 
order  returned,  and  the  board  met  with  twenty  members,  an  addition  of  one 
member  for  each  of  the  villages  of  Delavan,  Geneva  and  Whitewater.  In 
1883  Whitewater,  and  in  1886  Lake  Geneva  became  cities  with  ward  rep 
resentation.  each  having  three  wards.  Thus,  four  members  were  added.  In 
1894  Delavan  and  Elkhorn  became  statutory  cities  of  the  fourth  class,  each 
with  three  wards.  Sharon  village  was  incorporated  in  [893  and  the  villag 
of  East  Troy,  Geneva  Junction  and  Walworth  in  1901,  each  having  its  mem- 
ber of  the  county  board.  Thus,  since  1842  the  membership  <>f  this  f> 
has  been  doubled  in  number.  Among  the  functions  of  the  board  is  thai  of 
appointing  three  superintendents  of  the  county  poorhouse  and  insane  asylum; 
since  1887  a  soldier's  relief  committee  of  three  members:  and  since  [90]  a 
supervisor  of  assessments.  The  superintendents  of  the  poor  and  insane 
choose  a  resident  superintendent  of  the  farm,  buildings  and  inmates 
times  one  of  the  directing  body.     .Many  members  of  tin's  |  ,f  thirty-two 

farmers  and  business  men.  representing  the  intelligence  and  publ  t  of 

the  towns,  villages  and  cities,  are  so  often  re-elected  for  their  term  oi 
year  each  that  it  never  meets  as  a  body  wholly  without  experience  in  county 
affairs.  As  would  naturally  be  thought,  the  names  ,,f  several  of  these  mem- 
bers appear  in  the  lists  of  assemblymen  and  sta  f  >ne  member 
passed  by  rapidly  succeeding  steps,  by  way  of  the  Assembly,  I  it  of  tin- 
mighty  at  Washington. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COUNTY    BUILDINGS    AND    POOR    FARM. 

An  act  of  Congress,  approved  May  26,  1824,  gave  to  counties  in  states 
and  territories  where  public  lands  were  situated  a  right  of  pre-emption  to 
one  quarter  section  of  land  for  seats  of  justice.  The  county  commissioners 
pre-empted,  by  permission  of  Mr.  Rockwell's  company,  the  southeast  quarter 
of  section  36,  township  3  north,  of  range  16  east,  in  the  Milwaukee  land 
district,  being  the  Sugar  Creek  corner  of  the  town  and  city  of  Elkhorn.  The 
certificate  of  this  pre-emption  was  numbered  1144.  The  minimum  lawful 
price,  two  hundred  dollars,  was  paid  February  5,  1839,  by  the  commissioners 
acting  for  the  county.  President  Tyler  signed  the  patent  March  3,  1843, 
and  this  instrument  was  recorded  April  2,  1852,  by  Register  Long  at  page 
217,  Vol.  XIV  of  Deeds.  A  park  was  reserved  as  a  court  house  site,  and 
the  rest  of  the  land  was  laid  out  in  lots  and  platted  by  the  county  surveyor, 
Mr.  Norris,  and  Mr.  Rockwell  was  empowered  to  sell  lots  in  behalf  of  the 
commissioners.  Some  thoughtful  persons  secured  lots  facing  the  west  and 
north  sides  of  the  park  for  a  school  house  and  a  church.  A  few  lots  besides 
were  sold,  and,  except  a  lot  for  the  jail  and  a  hotel,  the  rest  of  the  county's 
quarter  section  became  part  of  the  court  house  contractor's  payment. 

The  commissioners  acted  never  more  wisely  and  well  than  in  setting  off 
the  park.  It  was  part  of  a  grove  of  nature's  planting — mostly  oaks  of  the 
black  and  burr  varieties — so  old  that  the  earlier  discoverers  of  the  North 
American  coast  might  have  seen  them  as  saplings  had  they  but  come  this 
way  to  find  mill  sites  and  county  centers.  More  than  fifty  years  ago  decay, 
lightning  and  high  winds  began  to  overthrow  the  aged  and  infirm  among 
them,  not  swiftly,  but  too  surely.  So  many  n\  them  yet  live  as  to  preserve 
the  general  appearance  so  long  admired.  Other  trees,  not  oaks,  have  tilled 
the  vacant  places,  and  the  park,  undisfigured  by  officious  "landscape  archi- 
tects," and  little  marred  by  the  county  buildings,  which  are  partly  hidden 
except  at  shortest  distance,  is  a  summer  comfort  and  a  thing  of  unadorned 
beauty  to  citizens  and  appreciative  visitors.  While  this  park  is  the  property 
of  the  county  and  wholly  within  the  county's  control  and  the  city  mows  its 
grass  and  rakes  away  its  dead  leaves  and  twigs,  and  provides  lawn  seats  and 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  65 

electric  lights,  neither  city  nor  county  has  ye1  become  so  super-civilized  as  to 
improve  its  natural  charms  by  posting  notices  to  tired   feet  to  "keep  off  the 

grass."  The  dimensions  are  about  six  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet  long  from 
east  to  west  and  five  hundred  and  ten  feet  wide  between  north  and  south.  Its 
area  is  nearly  seven  and  one-half  acres.  The  court  house  stands  near  the 
park  center;  that  is,  a  few  feet  east  and  north  of  that  point.  It  is  about 
sixty-two  rods  northwestward  from  the  stake  which  determined  the  settle- 
ment at  Elkhorn. 

THE    FIRST    COURT    HOUSE. 

Before  April,  1839,  Mr.  Rockwell  had  built  for  the  county  a  small  office 
on  the  north  side  of  the  park,  at  or  near  the  northeast  corner  of  Court  and 
Broad  streets.  It  was  about  eighteen  by  twenty-two  feet  on  the  ground,  a 
low  story  in  height,  with  columned  porch  in  front,  plain  in  its  neatness,  and 
was  decently  painted.  It  was  occupied  as  a  court  room,  a  meeting  place  for 
the  county  commissioners,  and  an  office  for  the  registry  of  deeds  and  mort- 
gages. In  1840  Willard  B.  Johnson,  of  Whitewater,  built  a  log  jail  on  the 
county's  land,  a  little  north  of  the  primitive  court  house.  Its  dimensions 
were  fourteen  by  twenty  feet,  and  it  was  fully  seven  feet  between  joints.  This 
ffowning  bastile,  with  its  full  equipment  of  bars,  bolts,  locks  and  solitary 
cell,  stood  there  twelve  years;  for  it  never  had  at  one  time  enough  inmates 
to  lift  up  one  side,  upset  the  entire  structure,  and  effect  a  general  jail  delivery. 

SECOND   COURT   HOUSE. 

At  its  session  of  March  5,  1841,  as  has  been  shown,  the  board  of  com- 
missioners had  resolved  to  complete  a  contract  for  building  a  court  house,  but 
the  scanty  record  does  not  show  the  steps  which  had  led  to  such  decisive  ac- 
tion; nor,  beyond  two  services  added  to  the  contract,  and  some  advance  pay- 
ments  to   contractor   ordered,    does   the   record    tell    of   later    steps    taken. 
Doubtless,  papers  now  not  to  be  found  were  tiled.     As  nearly  as  now  under- 
stood, it  was  planned  to  build  a  public  house  at  the  hotel  corner  of  Wisconsin 
and  Walworth  streets  and  to  derive  some  revenue  for  the  county  from  its  rent 
al  to  worthy  and  well  qualified  landlords.  No  citizen  of  the  count)   had  mi 
and  skill  needful  for  performing  such  work  as  was  required  by  the  plans  and 
specifications,  or,  if  he  had.  none  such  cared  so  to  invest  bis  -kill  and  mean 
Col.  Edward  Eklerkin  knew  one  James  Farnsworth,  Jr.,  at  or  near  Fond  du 
Lac.  who  was  called  hither  and  who  came  with  Richard  Hogcbooin  and  Hen 

(5) 


66  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

jamin  Arnold.  To  these  men  the  contract  was  let,  considerable  timber  and 
other  materials  were  brought  and  some  payments  made.  The  contractors 
found  themselves  unable  to  take  the  next  steps,  and  they  assigned  their  con- 
tract to  Levi  Lee,  a  then  somewhat  roving  contractor,  who  came  here  from 
the  lower  Rock  River  valley.  He  fulfilled  his  contract,  made  seats  for  the 
court  room,  and  was  directed  to  buy  a  "ten-plate"  stove  with  twenty-four 
feet  of  Russia-iron  seven-inch  pipe  at  cost  of  not  more  than  thirty  dollars. 
As  part  payment  he  received  the  unreserved- and  unsold  parts  of  the  county's 
quarter  section  of  land.  He  became  a  citizen  of  Elkhorn,  served  the  village 
and  his  own  interests  in  various  ways,  and  died  on  Christmas  day,  1875. 

The  court  house  was  thirty-six  feet  wide  by  fifty-two  feet  long,  two 
stories  high,  gable-roofed  with  four  fluted  and  voluted  hollow  columns  sup- 
porting the  front  gable,  which  projected  as  a  porch,  and  with  a  belfry.  It 
was  painted  white,  and  had  green  blinds.  Its  upper  floor  was  the  court  room, 
with  stairway  at  the  rear,  and  the  bench  and  bar,  which  were  well  built  of 
walnut,  in  front.  The  pine  seats  and  the  floor  were  painted.  Its  lower  floor 
gave  a  little  more  than  elbow  room  to  part  of  the  county  officers  and  two  rooms 
for  jury's  use.  It  was  for  some  years  one  of  the  best  court  houses  in  the  state. 
It  was  dedicated  in  due  form  May  10,.  1843,  by  lawyers  and  citizens.  Exper- 
ience Estabrook  serving  the  occasion  as  chairman  and  George  Gale  as  secre- 
tary. On  the  following  Fourth  of  July  it  was  dedicated  again  "to  the  blind 
goddess  of  justice,"  in  a  speech  by  Charles  M.  Baker,  which  Judge  Gale 
described  as  an  excellent  oration.  Before  i860  the  court  room  was  so  re- 
arranged as  to  seat  the  judge  and  counsel  at  the  back  end,  the  inside  stair- 
way having  been  pulled  away.  A  false  floor  disfigured  the  classic  colonnade; 
but  the  outside  stairways,  mounting  each  way  from  the  lower  entrance,  were 
as  useful  as  homely  and  gave  a  few  more  square  feet  to  the  court  room. 
In  1874  this  court  house  was  moved  southward  to  give  way  to  another  temple 
to  the  blind  goddess,  and  the  next  year,  thirty-two  years  after  its  dedication, 
il  was  sold  at  auction  to  Colonel  Elderkin  for  little  more  than  the  price  of  two 
sparrows,  fie  moved  it  to  the  Walworth  and  Broad  street  comer  and  planned 
in  various  vain  ways  to  make  it  rentable.  A  little  later  its  front  wall  was 
pushed  forward,  displacing  its  Ionic  columns,  its  outside  was  bedaubed  with 
the  muddiest  of  colors  and  its  inside  filled  with  barb  wire,  horse  rakes  and  corn 
planters.  Its  last  owner  was  Edward  TT.  Sprague,  who  in  iqoo  set  it  out  into 
the  street  to  make  way  for  a  new  building,  and  the  next  year  the  old  house  was 
pulled  down  and  reduced  to  second-hand  lumber  and  kindling  wood  because 
nobody  knew  of  better  use  for  it. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  67 

SECOND   JAIL,    AND   REGISTER'S   OFFICE. 

The  board  of  supervisors  met  in  special  session  April  21,  1851,  with  all 
members  present  except  David  Williams  of  Geneva,  for  whom  appeared 
Richard  B.  Flack,  of  the  town  board.  This  body,  as  a  committee  of  the 
whole,  having  inspected  the  jail.  Mr.  Harrington  moved  to  condemn  it.  The 
motion  prevailed  by  a  vote  of  thirteen  ayes  to  three  noes.  Mr.  Barlow  moved 
to  build  forthwith  and  Messrs.  Barlow,  Bell,  Coon,  Fish  and  Harrington,  as 
a  committee  on  ways  and  means,  were  directed  to  consider  and  to  report  by 
the  next  day.  Mr.  Cotton  moved  to  choose  (or  accept)  a  site  at  Delavan. 
Voting  by  roll  call,  the  ayes  were  seven:  Messrs.  Barlow,  Bell.  Birge,  Coon, 
Cotton,  Gillet.  Snell  (representing  respectively  the  towns  of  Delavan,  Lafay- 
ette, Whitewater,  Walworth,  Darien,  Hudson  and  Linn).  The  noes  were 
nine:  Messrs  Clark,  Dickson,  Fish.  Rack,  C,age,  Harrington,  Lauderdale, 
Powers,  Stewart  (respectively  of  East  Troy.  Sharon,  Richmond,  Geneva, 
Spring  Prairie,  Sugar  Creek,  Lagrange,  Troy,  Bloomfield).  The  next  day  a 
motion  to  repair  the  jail  and  to  build  a  house  for  the  sheriff  was  tabled.  The 
committee  of  five  reported  that  a  jail  might  be  built,  partly  by  tax  and  for  the 
rest  "on  the  pledged  faith  of  the  county,"  and  this  was  the  sense  of  the  board, 
and  was  quite  practical  common  sense.  Mr.  Cotton  moved  to  appropriate 
four  thousand  dollars  and  to  build  the  jail  on  the  site  of  the  old  one  according 
to  a  plan  and  specifications  (prepared  by  Lemuel  Bailey)  then  on  file.  Tin's 
motion  was  carried,  and  February  1,  1852,  fixed  for  completion  of  the  work. 
Messrs.  Cotton,  Harrington  and  Flack  were  named  as  building  committee. 
The  contract  was  let  to  Levi  Lee  and  Richard  B.  Flack,  and  Chairman  Wins'  n  , 
of  Elkhorn,  took  the  latter's  place  on  the  building  committee. 

The  old  site,  though  now  dry  ground,  was  then  found  boggy  and  un- 
suitable and  the  jail  was  built  at  Court  and  Church  streets,  facing  southwardly. 
It  was  of  stone  and  home-made  brick,  nearly  square  and  of  two  stories  height. 
The  sheriff's  house  in  front  and  jail  in  rear  were  brought  under  one  roof,  for 
some  time  very  leaky,  but  afterwards  tinned  and  made  water  tight.  A  cor- 
ridor on  all  sides  of  the  jail  room  parted  cells  from  outer  walls,  and  it  was 
thought  that  oaken  plank  with  a  few  bits  of  boiler  plate  would  make  all  secure 
from  within.  But  escapes  became  so  frequent  as  to  annoy  the  sheriffs,  and 
a  few  years  later  the  cells  were  rebuilt  of  oak  joists  so  liberally  spiked  cheek 
to  cheek  as  to  defy  pockel  saws  and  badly  tempered  (.able  knives.  \hout  the 
same  time,  say  1858,  a  wood-built  wing,  for  household  uses,  was  added  east- 
wardly.     This  building,  too.  was  in  its  turn  condemned,  though  in  plan  and 


68  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

construction  it  was  as  good  for  its  purposes,  most  likely,  as  any  built  that  year 
in  Wisconsin.  It  was  sold,  with  its  now  valuable  lot,  to  Miss  Amanda  Bulkley, 
who  pulled  away  the  wing,  tore  out  the  cells,  and  made  the  original  build- 
ing a  dwelling.  In  no  long  time  Hugh  Dobbin,  a  dealer  in  old  houses  and 
stores  at  Clinton,  Delavan,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  bought  and  occupied  the 
property.  By  one  more  sale  its  ownership  passed  to  Mr.  Flack,  one  of  its 
builders,  who  died  under  its  roof  in  1887.  In  October,  1845,  tne  board  con- 
sidered the  need  of  a  fire-proof  office  for  the  use  of  the  sheriff.  Sheriff  Bell 
was  directed  to  let  a  contract  for  such  a  building,  its  cost  not  to  be  more  than 
twenty-five  dollars  in  excess  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars,  and  the 
work  to  be  finished  in  1846.  The  contract  was  awarded  to  Gen.  Sheldon 
Walling.  Just  how  this  office  was  made  fire  proof  is  not  now  known.  Its 
outside  was  of  wood,  but  may  have  been  brick-laid  between  its  studding,  and 
its  floor  may  have  been  of  bricks.  It  was  one  story  high,  dark,  inconvenient, 
and  in  time  judged  unsafe.  It  was  occupied  by  the  register  of  deeds  and  the 
county  treasurer  and  may  have  had  a  corner  for  the  sheriff.  At  the  board's 
session  of  November  18,  1865,  the  need  of  a  better  building  was  declared  and 
January  18,  1866,  Messrs.  Crumb,  Ray  and  Allen  were  instructed  to  procure 
plans  and  bids.  At  a  special  session  February  5th,  one  bid  was  received  and 
accepted,  that  of  George  Dewing,  bricklayer,  Alexander  Stevens,  plas- 
terer, and  Squire  Stanford,  carpenter,  joining  their  proposals  in  one 
bidding  at  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars.  The  new  office 
was  of  hard  yellow  brick  with  tin  roof,  and  floored  with  a  lower  grade  of 
brick.  Except  for  the  small  entry  way  and  stairway  each  floor  was  a  double 
room,  parted  by  high,  wide  double  doors  of  softest  pine,  with  casings  of  the 
same  nearly  incombustible  material.  The  stairs  and  hand  rail  were  of  harder 
wood.  Pine  was  also  the  material  of  the  filing  cases  and  shelving.  These 
offices  were  well  lighted  and  were  usually  overheated  by  coal  stoves.  The 
upper  floor  was  assigned  to  the  county  judge  and  the  lower  one  to  the  reg- 
ister of  deeds.  In  1890  both  offices  were  tile  floored  and  partly  equipped  with 
steel  furniture. 

PRESENT   COURT   HOUSE. 

In  1873  the  board  of  supervisors  calculated  plausibly  that  a  panic  period, 
by  reason  of  lower  prices  of  materials  and  a  scarcity  of  employment  for  me- 
chanics and  laborers,  was  a  favorable  time  at  which  to  build  a  new  court 
house.  Limiting  the  cost  to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  the  building  com- 
mittee, Newton  M.  Littlejohn,  James  Aram,  Charles  Dunlap.  Alexander 
Fraser  and  Ely  B.   Dewing,  were  to  move  in  the  matter  at  once.     The  con- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  69 

tract  was  made  with  Squire  Stanford,  who  joined  George  Dewing's  bid  on 
the  masonry  with  his  own  for  nineteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-nine 
dollars.  The  men  broke  ground  early  in  1874.  Monday  evening,  September 
20,  1875.  the  lawyers  and  an  audience  of  citizens  met  in  the  new  court  room 
to  dedicate  it  with  many  words  from  Judges  Spooner  and  Wentworth,  Fred- 
erick W.  Cotzhauseu,  of  Milwaukee,  and  Messrs.  James  D.  Merrill,  of  East 
Troy,  Thompson  D.  Weeks,  of  Whitewater,  and  Colonel  Elderkin.  James 
Simmons,  of  Lake  Geneva,  read  twenty-nine  and  one-half  inches  (in  non- 
pareil or  six-point  type)  of  ten-syllable  verse.  Whatever  Mr.  Simmons  did. 
in  his  calling  or  out  of  it,  was  well  done  and  in  the  manner  of  a  liberally- 
educated  and  kindly- feeling  gentleman. 

Though  neither  architecturally  beautiful  nor  structurally  perfect,  the 
courthouse  is  a  fairly  good  building  for  its  purposes.  Court  room,  library 
room  and  jury  rooms  fill  its  upper  floor.  Below  are  two  safety  vaulted 
offices,  the  one  for  the  clerk  of  the  court,  the  other  for  the  county  clerk  and 
the  treasurer,  a  sheriff's  office,  poor-superintendent's  office  and  a  super- 
visor's room.  Alterations  and  improvements  have  been  made,  and  the  whole 
house  is  now  steam  heated  and  electric  lighted.  Much  of  the  office  furniture 
is  of  steel.  Water  is  conveniently  supplied  by  the  city's  works.  It  may  even 
now  be  nearly  or  quite  forgotten  fso  false  and  Heeling  is  human  memor)  1 
that  the  tower  and  dome  once  held  aloft  a  colossal  figure  of  Justice  carved 
of  wood  by  an  artist  of  Milwaukee — who  may  have  loved  his  work  too  well 
for  his  domestic  peace — its  stature  nine  feet  or  more,  decently  clad  and  law- 
fully equipped  (with  sword  and  scales),  as  to  feature-  as  awfully  beautiful  as 
a  Lithuanian  Medusa,  her  petrifying  gaze  turned  sternly  toward  the  state  line 
— as  if  frowning  upon  a  rival  beauty  similarly  perched  at  Woodstock.  Her 
scale  pans  were  soon  blown  away,  hut  she  kept  her  right  hand  on  her  sword 
until  1884  when  an  irreverent  thunderbolt  reduced  her  to  chips  and  splintei 

THE   PRESENT   JAIL. 

It  was  evident  to  the  board  of  1877  that  a  better  jail  and  sheriff's  house 
were  indispensable,  and  it  appropriated  ten  thousand  dollars  and  ordered  a 
change  of  site.  Newton  M.  Littlejohn,  Henrj  < ..  Hollister,  Samuel  II. 
Stafford,  John  Matheson,  and  Lucius  Allen  served  as  building  committee.  The 
site  chosen  is  opposite  the  southwestern  park  corner,  facing  eastwardly.  The 
plan  was  of  Milwaukeean  design  and  the  work  of  Jam  >nti  "  tors.     The 

outer  work  is  of  quarry  stone  and  good  brick.     The  is  of  1 

high  stories,  set  upon  a  basement  ston  of  cul  stori  ive  a  noble  front  1 


70  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

vation  and  to  make  life  a  burden  to  the  sheriff's  family).  As  a  whole,  it  is 
neither  unsightly  without  nor  very  inconvenient  within.  The  jail,  adjoining 
rearwardly,  has  two  tiers  of  cells  and  corridors,  all  of  soft  and  hard  steel 
bars  riveted  together  cagewise.  Jail  makers  of  St.  Louis  supplied  the  metal 
work.  City  water,  steam  heat,  electric  light  and  a  new  barn  have  since  added 
sensibly  to  its  cost  and  value.  The  state  board  of  control,  which  is  constantly 
receiving,  absorbing  and  reflecting  new  light  on  state  and  county  building 
equipment,  already  urges  rebuilding  in  a  manner  more  fully  compliant  with 
scientific  sanitation's  last  revelation.  A  few  years  after  this  jail  was  finished 
the  board  authorized  an  experiment  with  tramps  and  petty  delinquents.  A 
shed  was  built,  stone-hammers  were  bought,  a  few  hundred  loads  of  cobble 
stones  were  delivered  at  the  jail  yard,  Samuel  Mitchell,  of  Elkhorn,  was  ap- 
pointed overseer,  and  these  prisoners  were  set  at  work  to  make  road  material. 
Some  sale  was  found  for  their  product,  but  at  no  great  distance  from  Elkhorn, 
and  the  plan  was  soon  dropped.  From  legislation  and  other  causes,  far  fewer 
tramps  are  committed  than  in  the  years  between  1870  and  1890. 

The  state  board  of  control  having  condemned  the  jail  as  "out  of  date 
and  no  longer  a  credit  to  the  county,"  a  committee  of  the  county  board  was 
instructed  at  the  session  of  December,  1910,  to  examine  and  consider  the 
matter.  At  the  session  of  November,  191 1,  the  committee  recommended  the 
sale  of  the  jail  property  and  the  building  of  a  new  jail  and  sheriff's  house  on 
the  park,  westward  or  northward  of  the  other  building,  with  a  central  heating 
system  for  all  of  them.  Messrs.  Stewart  and  Thayer,  of  this  committee,  with 
the  county  clerk,  were  instructed  to  call  for  bids  for  the  present  building  and 
lots  and  to  procure  estimates  of  the  cost  of  a  new  building  and  equipment. 

FIRE  PROOF  VAULTS. 

For  the  security  of  the  bulky  and  priceless  county  records,  and  because 
of  duties  added  by  recent  statutes  to  those  of  the  county  judge,  a  better 
building  was  necessary.  In  1905  the  county  board  provided  for  really 
fire-proof  offices  for  the  county  court  and  the  registry  of  deeds.  The  total 
cost  was  about  thirty-five  thousand  dollars.  Upon  a  basement  wall  of  dressed 
limestone,  forty-four  by  eight}'  feet,  a  structure  of  cement,  with  steel- 
rod  reinforcement  and  a  facing  of  pressed  bricks  was  raised,  and  roofed 
with  terra  cotta  tiles.  The  floors  are  of  small  hexagon  tiles.  Each  story 
has  a  large  fire-proof  record  room,  and  desks,  tables,  roller  shelving  and  file 
cases  .'ire  of  steel.  The  county  judge  has  the  lower  floor  and.  excepl  three 
small  jury  rooms,  the  register  of  deeds  has  the  upper  story.     In  1908  one  of 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  7  I 

these  small  rooms  was  placed  at  the  service  of  the  Grand  Army  posts  of  the 
county  for  deposit  of  such  records  and  relics  as  they  may  choose  to  leave 
there.  In  1909  another  of  these  rooms  was  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the  super- 
intendent of  schools.  The  basement,  beneath  the  lower  record  room,  at 
present  stores  the  collection  of  the  County  Historical  Society,  as  permitted  by 
statute. 

CARE  FOR  THE  POOR. 

The  helpless  poor  were,  in  the  earlier  years,  left  to  the  immediate  care 
of  their  several  towns.  This  led  to  laying  bills  of  cost  before  each  county 
board  for  its  audit  and  allowance.  In  1852  the  time  was  ripe  for  a  more 
efficient  county  system  and  the  board  of  that  year  chose  three  superintendents 
as  a  governing  commission  for  the  county  house  and  its  farm.  Authority 
was  given  to  buy  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  section  4 
of  the  town  of  Geneva,  within  three  miles  of  the  court  house.  An  improved 
farm  of  eighty  acres,  with  buildings,  was  chosen  and  at  once  applied  (in  1853) 
to  its  present  use.  By  successive  extensions  this  farm  now  contains  four 
hundred  and  eight  acres.  The  house,  too,  was  extended,  but  later  needs 
soon  outstripped  this  temporary  provision.  Late  in  1872  a  fire  cleared  the 
ground  for  something  greatly  better.  The  new  house  was  built  at  a  cost  of 
ten  thousand  dollars,  and  it  was  then  regarded,  taken  with  its  management, 
as  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind  in  Wisconsin.  The  contractors  were  John  Trum- 
bull, carpenter,  and  Charles  Bonnet,  mason,  both  of  Whitewater.  In  1883 
and  1887  other  buildings  for  the  care  of  the  incurably  insane — a  house 
each  sex — were  built,  each  at  like  cost.  In  1900  a  new  house,  beside  that  of 
1873.  was  built  and  the  latter  became  a  general  dining  hall  for  the  institution 
With  barns  and  other  buildings,  and  with  recent  improvements  (including 
steam  heating  and  electric  lighting)  together  with  the  value  of  the  land  at 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  acre,  it  is  now  estimated  thai  1 
county  property  is  worth  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  yearl)  ap 
propriation  for  the  care  of  the  poor  and  insane  lias  become  sixteen  thousand 
dollars,  including  one  thousand  dollar-   for  permanent  impn  The 

county  board  visits  the  farm  in  a  bod)  each  year,  and  it-  superintendent  and 
the  resident  manager  are  men  whom  the  humane  citi  nty  can 

trust.     In  the  earlier  half  of  the  pasl   forty  yens  the  managen  ticipated 

and  even  bettered  the  suggestions  of  the  stal  and  in  the 

reports  of  that  body  the  example  of  Walworth  was  lai  the  citizens  and 

hoards  of  other  counties  of   Wisconsin.     Dr.   William   II.    Ilurllnit   was  ap 
pointed  count)  physician  in  [882  and  he  served  until  1911,  when  he  resigned 
and  Dr.  Edward   Kinne  was  appointed.      Before   r882   Dr.  Charles   S.    Bur- 
bank  had  sen  ed  f<  >r  a  year  1  >r  tv  1  >. 


CHAPTER     IX. 


THE  BENCH  AND  BAR. 


It  may  never  be  known  how  President  Jackson  and  the  consenting  Senate 
induced  Hon.  David  Irvin  to  leave  forever  behind  him  the  elegancies  of  a 
Virginia  gentleman's  home  and  drop  to  the  semi-barbarous  fare  and  informal 
manners  of  primitive  western  hotels ;  to  exchange  his  brilliant  prospects  of 
professional  or  political  promotion  for  the  dull  routine  of  frontier  courts. 
It  is  only  certain  that  he  accepted  the  territorial  judgeship  for  Wisconsin, 
and  that  late  in  April,  1839.  he  dismounted  his  horse  (not  improbably  at 
Hollis  Latham's  hospitable  mansion),  placed  his  gun  in  temporary  safety,  and 
soon  afterwards,  with  his  dog,  found  his  way  to  the  county  building,  north 
of  the  park  and  at  or  near  the  northeast  corner  of  Court  and  Broad  streets. 
Here,  with  Sheriff  Walling's  help,  he  opened  in  due  legal  form  the  first  court 
term  for  Walworth  count}-.     The  clerk's  journal  tells  the  day's  story  best : 

"At  a  term  of  the  District-Court  of  Walworth  County,  begun  and  held 
at  Elkhorn  on  Monday  the  twenty-second  day  of  April,  1839;  present  the 
Honorable  David  Irvin.  Judge  of  said  Court: 

"Ordered,  that  LeGrand  Rockwell  be  appointed  clerk  of  the  District 
Court  for  the  County  of  Walworth.  Whereupon  the  said  Rockwell  entered 
into  Bonds  in  the  penal  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars,  conditioned  as  the  Law- 
directs,  with  Othni  Beardsley  and  William  Bowman,  his  securities,  and  took 
the  Oath  of  Office  as  prescribed  by  law. 

"Ordered  that  Charles  M.  Baker  be  admitted  as  an  Attorney  and  Counsel- 
lor at  Law  to  appear  and  practice  in  this  and  other  Courts  of  Record  within 
this' Territory,  it  appearing  to  the  Court  thai  he  i>  entitled  so  to  do.  Where- 
upon said  Baker  took  the  oath  of  office.'' 


"  \hm'1  A.   I  Eemenway 
vs 

I    li;mncc\       I  \  eS. 


Appeal   from  Justice. 


"And  now  comes  the  plaintiff  by  Horatio  X.  Wells,  [of  Milwaukee] 
his  attorney  and  moves  the  Court  here  for  leave  to  tile  a  declaration  in  said 
Cause.     Whereupon  it  is  ordered  that  said  leave  be  given  and  that  said  dec- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  J^ 

laration  be  filed  within  thirty  days  hereafter  and  all  other  pleadings  there- 
after within  twenty  days  successively  until  issue  and  the  cause  be  continued 
generally." 


'"Thomas  McKaig,  Appellant. 


vs 


Israel  Williams,  Appellee. 


Appeal  from  Justice. 


"On  motion  of  Moses  M.  Strong  [of  Mineral  Point],  attorney  for  the 
Appellant,  ordered  that  a  rule  be  entered  that  Benjamin  Ball  Esq.,  Justice  of 
the  Peace  before  whom  the  above  entitled  cause  was  tried,  make  due  return 
of  the  proceedings  in  the  said  cause  and  that  an  attachment  be  granted  to 
ci  niipel  the  same. 

"Ordered  that  this  Court  be  adjourned  until  the  next  term  thereof,  [Oct. 

"] )  win  Irvix.  Judge." 

At  the  October  term  a  jury  was  called  in  the  case  of  McKaig  vs.  Will- 
iams, and  the  trial  resulted  in  a  verdict  for  the  defendant.  The  jurors  were 
John  S.  Boyd,  John  Byrd,  William  Carter,  Thomas  Gates,  Alonzo  Crow. 
Cyrus  Horton,  George  W.  Kendall  (foreman).  Abel  Neff.  Soldatl  I'owcrs. 
David  Pratt.  Morris  Ross,  and  William  Stork.  The  other  jurors  drawn  for 
the  term  were  William  Bohall,  Isaac  Burs.  .11,  Perkins  S.  Child,  David  S.  | 
ing.  Thomas  Fellows,  Solomon  Finch.  Daniel  G.  Foster.  Daniel  llartwell. 
Loren  K.  Jones.  Thomas  W.  Miller,  Austin  .McCracken.  Marcus  Mouta g 
Benjamin  C.  Pearce,  Horace  Smith.  Nelson  Spoor,  Ebenezer  Tupper,  Elijah 
\\'<  'rthington. 

The  grand  jurors  at  this  term  were  Joseph  Marker.  Asa  Blood,  Deodal 
Brewster,  Alexander  H.  Bunnell.  Jacob  Burgit,  Richard  Chenery,  George 
Clark.  Christopher  Douglass.  Norman  C.  Dyer,  Charles  M.  Goodsell,  Morris 
F.  Hawes,  Mason  Dicks.  Willard  I'..  Johnson,  John  Lippit,  James  Maxwell 
(foreman),  Urban  D.  Meacham.  Amos  Older,  Samuel  F.  Phoenix,  Samuel 
Prince.  John  Reader.  Jacob  '  i.  Sanders.  ||,  Smith  Young,  Robert  Young. 
William  P..  Lewis  was  indicted  for  larceny  am  i   Reub  trandei    ; 

jury.  The  case  against  Lewis  was  dismissed  \  nolle  prosequi  was  entered 
in  the  case  against  Ostrander,  it  having  been  shown  that  Squire  McKaig,  who 
had  committed  him  for  trial,  was  a  but  half-naturalized  citizen.  The  lot 
term  of  the  territorial  court  opened  May  22,  [848,  and  adjourned  without  .-, 
day  June  3d.      Beyond   the  short   roll   of  attorneys   adn  1    Wisconsin 

practice  there  is  little  of  historic  interest  in  the  clerk's  journal  of  the  court's 
proceedings. 


74  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

ROLL  OF  ATTORNEYS,    1 839- 1 848. 

Delavan — William   C.   Allen.    Stephen   S.    Barlow,   Milo   Kelsey,    1842; 
William  H.  Pettit. 

East  Troy — Alender  O.  Babcock. 

Elkhorn — Lyman  Cowdery,  1848;  Edward  Elderkin,  1839;  George  Gale, 
1841 ;  Wyman  Spooner,  1S42;  Horatio  S.  Winsor,  1841. 

Geneva — Charles  M.  Baker,  1839;  Experience  Estabrook,  1840;  James 
Simmons,  1843. 

Spring  Prairie — Charles  D.  Pulver,  1842. 

Troy — Urban  D.  Meacham. 

Whitewater— Prosper  Cravath,  1845;  Warner  Earle,  Frederick  C.  Pat- 
terson, 1844;  Eleazar  Wakeley. 

Residence  unknown — Charles  Aiken,  1845;  Thomas  D.  Grant. 

One  case  in  this  court  was  made  widely  famous,  for  the  period  of  a 
half  generation  of  men,  from  the  humorous  account  of  it  given  by  Andrew 
E.  Elmore,  long  known  as  the  Sage  of  Mukwonago,  in  a  speech  (as  member 
of  Assembly)  at  the  legislative  session  of  1859  or  i860,  in  support  of  a  bill  for 
abolishing  all  laws  for  collection  of  debts.  From  the  sale  of  a  yoke  of  oxen, 
somewhere  in  Jefferson  county,  grew  a  suit  which,  by  new  trials,  changes  of 
venue,  and  other  useful  devices,  was  prolonged  until  the  costs  amounted  to 
more  than  the  price  of  many  yoked  or  unyoked  oxen.  Mr.  Elmore  was  of 
the  counsel  in  this  cause  when  one  of  its  changes  of  venue  brought  it  to 
Elkhorn.  He  explained  to  his  fellow  legislators  that  he  had  learned  from  ob- 
servation or  information  that  if  one  would  win  his  cause  in  Judge  Irvin's 
court  he  must  go  hunting  with  His  Honor,  praise  '"York,"  His  Honor's 
horse,  regardless  of  truth  or  likelihood,  or  feed  and  fondle  "Pedro,"  His  Hon- 
or's dog.  Mr.  Elmore  made  "Pedro"  think  him  a  true  friend,  and  so  far 
prospered  in  court  as  to  obtain  a  favorable  ruling  on  his  motion  for  a  new 
trial  of  the  cattle  case.  As  the  Judge  gave  his  instruction  to  the  clerk,  "Pe- 
dro" made  awkwardly  fn-c  with  his  new  friend,  who,  a  little  annoyed,  gave 
the  brute  a  kick.  The  Judge  saw  the  action  and  heard  the  yelp  for  redress. 
Before  the  clerk  had  begun  to  enter  the  ruling  just  made  the  Judge  reversed 
it.  "Mr.  Speaker,  that  kick  cost  me  live  hundred  dollars!"  This  speech  was 
published  in  most  of  the  newspapers  of  America  and  of  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies,  and  was  included  in  various  selections  for  the  use  of  young  elo- 
cutionists. The  fame  thus  accruing  to  Mr.  Elmore  was  not  boughl  much 
too  dearly  at  its  cost  to  him. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  75 

"At  a  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  in  and  for  the  County  of  Walworth 
begun  and  held  at  the  Court  House  in  Elkhorn  on  the  first  Monday,  the  sec- 
ond day  of  October,  A.  D.  1848.  Present  the  Hon.  Edward  V.  Whiton,  judge 
of  said  Court."  So  begins  Air.  Clerk's  journal.  The  first  cause  called  for 
trial  was  that  of  Edwin  Hodges  vs.  Henry  Bradley  et  al. ;  George  Gale  for 
the  defense.  The  case  was  continued  at  defendant's  cost.  The  grand  jurors 
were  Oramel  Armstrong,  Robert  Augier,  John  A.  Baird,  Leander  Birge,  Deo- 
dat  Brewster,  George  Dann,  Jared  Fox.  Lewis  B.  Goodsell,  llcnn  II.  Hart- 
son,  Elias  Hibbard  (foreman),  Linus  Merrill,  Zenas  Ogden,  Isaac  Raymond, 
Moses  Seymour,  Sewall  Smith.  Henry  J.  Starin,  Jeremiah  Wilcox.  The 
names  of  men  who  attended  court  and  drew  pay  and  mileage  as  petit  jurors 
were:  Calvin  M.  Ashley,  John  W.  Boyd,  Jesse  Brown,  Alonzo  A.  Bryant, 
William  Burgit,  Joseph  N.  Cahoon,  Cyrus  Church,  John  DeGarmo,  William 
DeWolf,  George  W.  Dorrance.  Charles  Garfield,  Samuel  Gregory,  Jacob  R. 
Kling,  Ansel  Knowles,  John  Mereness,  Silas  Patten,  Robert  K.  Potter,  Martin 
O.  Pulver,  John  Raleigh,  Sherman  M.  Rockwood,  Isaac  Searl,  George  Sewell, 
George  W.  Sturges,  Augustus  Taintor,  Isaac  White,  Anderson  Whiting, 
Robert  J.  Wood. 

The  several  judges  of  the  first  circuit  were  as  follows: 

Edward   Vernon    Whiton,   Janesville 1849 

Wvman  Spooner,  Elkhorn,  appointed 1853 

James  Rood  Doolittle,   Racine 1854 

Charles  Minton  Baker,  Geneva,  appointed  March 1856 

John  Martin  Keep,  Beloit,  elected  April 1856 

David   Xoggle    1858 

William  Penn  Lyon,  Racine [866 

Robert   Harkness,    Elkhorn 1  87 1 

'  Ira  T.  Paine,  Racine,  appointed  March 1S75 

John  Theodore  Wentworth,  Lake  <  ieneva,  June 1875 

John  Bradley    Winslow,    Racine 1884 

Frank  M.   Fish,   Racine 1891 

Ellsworth  Burnett  Belden,  Racine 

Judge  Whiton  became  chief  justice  of  the  Wisconsin  51  court  in 

June,  1853.     Mr.  Spooner  was  appointed  by  Governor  Farwell  and  held  one 
term  of  court  in  this  county.     At  the  November  election  of  thai  year  to  till 
the  vacancy  for  the  remainder  of  the  term  of  office,  Mr.  Spooner  was 
feated  by  Mr.  Doolittle,  whose  service  began  in  the  following  January,     In 


j6  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

1856.  after  holding  the  January  term  of  court.  Judge  Doolittle  resigned  and 
earlv  in  March  Governor  Barstow  appointed  Mr.  Baker,  who  held  the  April 
court  term  for  Racine  county.  March  25th  a  Republican  convention  for  the 
circuit,  at  Delavan,  on  its  ninth  ballot,  named  John  M.  Keep,  of  Beloit,  who 
was  elected  in  April  and  presided  at  the  May  term  of  court.  He  resigned 
in  May,  1858,  and  David  Noggle  was  first  appointed  and  then  elected.  Judge 
Lyon  was  transferred  to  the  supreme  bench,  January,  1871.  Mr.  Harkness 
resigned  in  March,  1875,  and  went  for  his  health  to  Salt  Lake  City.  Judge 
Paine  never  presided  at  Elkhorn,  but  held  spring  terms  at  Kenosha  and  Ra- 
cine. Mr.  Wentworth  passed  up  from  the  circuit  clerk's  desk  to  the  bench, 
and  soon  after  his  election  became  a  citizen  of  Racine.  After  1884  he  be- 
came police  judge  at  that  city  and  died  February  7,  1893.  Judge  Fish  re- 
signed, went  to  Texas,  returned  and  died  in  a  sanitarium  at  Stevens  Point. 
Tanuarv  10,  1908.  Judge  Lyon,  now  nearly  blind,  but  otherwise  in  fair 
health,  lives  near  San  Francisco.  Judge  Harkness  is  living,  and  Judge  Wins- 
low  is  on  duty  as  chief  justice  of  the  Wisconsin  supreme  court. 

ROLL  OF  ATTORNEYS  FROM  1848. 

Darien — Joseph  F.  Lyon.  1871  ;  Calvin  Serl,  Archibald  Woodard. 

Delavan — Alanson  H.  Barnes,  1854;  D.  Bennett  Barnes,  1885;  J.  V. 
Bradway,  1857;  Henry  W.  Clark,  Edward  E.  Clippinger,  1884;  Augustus  J. 
Fiedler,  1878;  Frederick  B.  Goodrich,  1888;  Charles  S.  Griffin,  1862;  Nicholas 
M.  Harrington.  1862;  Alphonso  G.  Kellam,  1859;  Frederick  E.  Latimer, 
1878;  Thomas  M.  McHugh,  1849:  Newton  McGraw,  Daniel  B.  Maxson, 
1861;  Robert  R.  Menzie.  1849;  silas  W.  Menzie,  1866;  William  C.  Norton, 
1856:  H.  D.  Patchen,  [858;  Arthur  L.  Shader,  1873;  Hiram  T.  Sharp.  1864; 
Charles  B.  Sumner,  1886;  Charles  J.  Sumner,  Alfred  D.  Thomas,  [863; 
Ernest  L.  Von  Suessmilch,  1890. 

East  Troy — Henry  Cousins,  1852;  John  Fraser,  [859;  James  D.  Mer- 
rill,  1868;  John  F.  Potter,   1852. 

Elkhorn — Seth  L.  Carpenter,  1857;  James  Densmore,  1855;  H.  Seymour 
Dunlap,  1881;  Henry  M.  Eastman,  1849;  George  M.  Ferris,  1907;  John  L. 
Forrest,  1855;  Peter  Golder,  [850;  Anthony  Caspar  Graff,  [888;  Charles 
Daniel  Handy,  [858;  Robert  Harkness.  1S5S;  Del.  C.  lfunfoou,  1890;  Levi 
W.  Lee,  [86i  ;  Jay  F.  Lyon,  [888;  W.  Clarence  Norton,  T900;  Jay  W.  Page. 
[899;  James  Redneld,  [859;  Arthur  L.  Sanborn,  187S;  Harley  F.  Smith, 
1850;  Edward  II.  Sprague,  [878;  Elnathan  S.  Weeden,  [872;  Jaynes  B. 
Wheeler,  187(1:  Curtis  H.  Winsor,  [868;  Fernando  Winsor,  Frank  11.  Win- 
sor,  [888. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  "]-J 

Lake  Geneva — L.  L.  Baxter,  1854;  Dr.  Hilton  \Y.  Boyce,  1857;  Lewis  G. 
Brown,  1897;  Hugh  A.  Burdick,  1889;  Asa  W.  Farr,  [853;  Charles  S.  French, 
1879;  Daniel  E.  Sherman,  1870;  John  Bell  Simmons,  1873 ;  John  A.  Smith, 
1865;  Stephen  Bemis  Van  Buskirk,  1858;  John  T.  Wentworth,  Albert  T. 
Wheeler. 

Linn — John  P.  Ingalls,  Wallace  Ingalls. 

Lyons — Elbert  Osborn  Hand,  1851):  Robert  Holley. 

Richmond — A.  B.  Webber. 

Sharon — Fayette  P.  Arnold.  1859;  (hark-  II.  Bronson,  1872;  John  T. 
Fish,  1859;  Wilson  L.  Shunk,  1884. 

Whitewater — Samuel  Bishop,  1865;  Jedidiali  Brown,  Robert  C.  Bulkley, 
1906;  Edwin  Thomas  Cass,  1878;  Elliott  D.  Converse,  1864;  E.  Wood 
Comes,  1857;  Pitt  N.  Cravath,  1865;  Henry  J.  Curtice.  1X55;  Frank  X. 
Fryer.  Hubert  O.  Hamilton,  X.  Augustus  Hamilton,  1859;  Henn  Heady, 
1873;  Edson  Kellogg,  James  G.  Kestol,  1883:  X.  Alphonso  Millard,  I  lenry 
Oreb  Montague,  1859;  X'ewton  S.  Murphey,  1856;  Joseph  II.  Page,  r866; 
James  D.  Robinson,  1864;  Hariy  O.  Seymour,  George  W.  Steele,  1869;  Paul 
II.  Tratt,  1902;  Thompson  D.  Weeks,  1859. 

Philip  V.  Coon.  1868,  William  E.  Sheffield,  1862,  and  Stephen  S. 
Sibley,  1856,  are  not  now  assignable  to  any  town.  There  are  about  fifty 
names  recorded  of  men  who  are  not  known  to  have  lived  in  the  county,  or, 
such  as  did  live  here  went  elsewhere  to  find  practice.  None  of  these  arc 
now  of  the  Walworth  bar.  nor  are  there  many  here  named  who  yel  abide  with 
us.  Most  of  the  dates  wanting  are  likeliest  to  be  recorded  in  other  counties, 
of  this  or  other  states.  It  may  be  that  none  but  a  non-resident  lawyer  could 
grade  justly  these  learne«l  gentlemen,  or  place  them  in  order  of  their  profes- 
sional worth:  but  it  may  be  permissible  to  name  some  of  those  who  have  died 
or  are  now  far  away,  to  whom  contemporary  judgment  accorded  sonic  qual- 
ities of  leadership  at  the  bar  of  the  circuit.  Among  these,  then,  were  Messrs. 
Babcock,  Baker,  Barlow.  A.  H.  Barnes,  Estabrook,  Fish,  Gale,  Harkm 
Kellam,  McHugh,  Meacham,  Menzie,  Murphey.  Sanborn,  James  Simmons, 
H.  F.  Smith.  Wvman  Spooner,  C.  B.  Sumner,  Thomas,  Wakeley,  Week-.  II 
S.  Winsor. 

The  last  grand  juror  li-t  was  made  b)  the  county  board  in  [872  for  the 
following  vear's  service,  but  the  judge  may  make  ami  tile  an  order  for  sum- 
moning a  grand  jury  under  statutory  provisions.  In  [897  it  became  a  judicial 
function  to  appoint  a  commission  of  three  members  for  the  duty  of  selecting 
and  reporting  a  list  of  citizens  for  service  as  petit  juroi  5.    I  me  member  is 


y8  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

pointed  each  year  and  serves  three  years.  Thus  far  five  men  have  performed 
this  service:  Mortimer  T.  Park,  of  Elkhorn,  1897-9;  John  E.  Menzie,  La- 
grange, 1897-1911 ;  John  W.  Brownson,  Sharon,  1897-1912;  George  R.  Allen, 
Bloomfield.  1899-1901  ;  John  G.  Meadows,  Lyons,  1901-13. 


CHAPTER  X. 


OFFICIAL   K<»  |  |  k. 


Since  the  admission  of  Wisconsin  to  statehood  citizens  of  this  county 
have  shared  but  moderately  in  the  honors  of  high  place  in  federal  or  in  slate 
government.  John  Fox  Potter,  of  East  Troy,  was  a  member  of  the  national 
House  of  Representatives  from  1857  to  1863,  six  years  of  a  memorably  ex- 
citing period  of  American  politics.  He  stood  manfully,  in  his  first  and  sec- 
ond term,  for  freedom  of  debate,  and  in  his  third  term  was  of  that  group  of 
western  members  who  enjoyed  the  close  personal  as  well  as  political  friend- 
ship and  confidence  of  President  Lincoln.  Defeated  in  1862  by  unfriendly  in- 
fluences in  Milwaukee  and  Waukesha,  as  he  thought,  he  was  offered  and  he 
refused  the  Danish  mission.  But  he  accepted  the  consul-generalship  at  Mon- 
treal, after  the  death  of  Joshua  R.  Giddings  at  that  post,  and  resigned  it  he- 
fore  the  end  of  the  Johnson  administration.  His  latest  successor  in  Con- 
gress. Henry  Allen  Cooper,  of  Racine,  was  born  at  Spring  Prairie  (a  son  of 
Dr.  Joel  H.  Cooper),  and  has  served  continuously  from  1893.  Experience 
Estabrook,  of  Geneva,  went  to  Nebraska,  and  in  1859- claimed  a  seat  in  Con- 
gress as  territorial  delegate,  but  was  not  seated. 

Eleazar  Wakeley,  of  Whitewater,  went  to  Omaha,  and  became  a  Federal 
judge.  Alanson  H.  Barnes,  of  Delavan,  by  General  Grant's  appointment,  was 
for  four  years  a  judge  of  the  territorial  court  of  Dakota.  Alfred  D.  Thomas, 
his  son-in-law,  was  appointed  in  1890  as  judge  of  the  federal  district  court 
of  North  Dakota.  Arthur  Loomis  Sanborn,  now  federal  judge  for  the 
western  district  of  Wisconsin,  was  appointed  in  [905.  I  lis  boyhood  and  youth 
were  passed  at  Lake  Geneva,  lie  came  in  1869  to  Elkhorn  as  assistant  to 
Register  Noyes,  whom  he  succeeded  in  office.  Having  in  his  leisure  hours 
grounded  himself  thoroughly  in  the  principles  of  ancient  and  modem  law,  he 
was  admitted  to  practice  nearly  at  the  close  of  his  four  years  as  a  county 
officer.  At  the  end  of  his  term  he  went  to  Madison,  where  he  formed  mosl 
advantageous  professional  connection-  and  passed  readily  into  the  higher 
practice  of  his  profession. 

George  Gale  was  a  pioneer  lawyer  at  Elkhorn,  and  about  [855  again  a 
pioneer  of  Trempealeau  county,  where  he   founded  the  villagi    ol   Galesville. 


80  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

His  new  home  was  in  the  sixth  judicial  circuit  and  he  soon  became  its  judge. 
Both  at  Elkhorn  and  at  Galesville  he  was  a  pioneer  editor  and  publisher. 
Like  Chancellor  Walworth,  he  compiled  a  genealogy  of  his  family.  William 
Penn  Lyon  came  in  his  boyhood  to  Hudson,  served  his  town  as  justice  of 
the  peace,  removed  to  Racine,  became  successively  district  attorney,  judge 
for  the  circuit,  associate  justice,  and  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court.  Al- 
phonso  G.  Kellam  studied  law  at  Elkhorn,  practiced  at  Delavan,  served  in 
the  Civil  war  as  captain  and  as  major,  went  to  South  Dakota,  and  became  the 
first  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  that  state. 

George  Wilbur  Peck,  governor  of  Wisconsin,  1891-95,  was  for  some 
years  a  printer  at  Delavan  and  at  Whitewater.  Butler  G.  Noble,  of  White- 
water, was  elected  lieutenant-governor  over  Dr.  Alexander  S.  Palmer,  of 
Geneva,  in  1859.  Wyman  Spooner  was  twice  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  hav- 
ing been  sent  in  1862  to  the  state  Senate,  he  became  its  president,  and  the 
death  of  Governor  Harvey  made  him  acting  lieutenant-governor,  to  which 
post  he  was  twice  elected  by  the  people.  The  first  man  who  served  Wis- 
consin as  its  secretary  of  state  was  Thomas  M.  McHugh,  of  Delavan.  son  of 
Rev.  Stephen  McHugh  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  who  was  also  a  resident  of  the 
county.  Secretary  McHugh  had  served  the  last  territorial  Assembly  as  chief 
clerk  of  the  Council.  He  was  educated  and  able,  but  neither  at  the  bar  nor 
elsewhere  ever  quite  fulfilled  the  hope  of  his  friends.  Samuel  D.  Hastings  had 
moved  from  Geneva  to  Trempealeau  county  a  short  time  before  his  election  as 
state  treasurer  in  1857,  which  place  he  held  for  four  terms.  He  afterward 
served  the  Prohibitionist  party  as  one  of  its  candidates  for  some  high  place, 
for  him  not  in  that  wav  attainable.  Experience  Estabrook,  while  yet  of  Gene- 
va, served  from  1852  to  1854  as  attorney-general.  Stephen  S.  Barlow,  of 
Delavan,  went  to  Sauk  county  and  thence  to  the  same  office,  1870-1874.  Capt. 
Almerin  Gillette,  of  Hudson,  and  of  the  Twentieth  Wisconsin  Infantry,  went 
to  Kansas,  where  he  became  railway  commissioner.  Orville  T.  Bright,  as 
boy  and  young  man,  lived  in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Geneva  which  lies  near- 
est Elkhorn.  After  a  term  as  county  superintendent  of  schools  he  went  to 
Chicago  where  he  was  for  many  years  city  superintendent.  Since  1903 
Charles  P.  Carv  has  been  in  continuous  service  as  state  superintendent  of 
public  instruction,  lie  was  elected  from  Delavan,  where  he  was  then  chief 
officer  nf  the  state's  school   i"v  the  deaf. 

The  first  constitutional  convention  of  Wisconsin  met  October  5.  1846. 
and  adjourned  December  io.  1846.     Its  work  was  rejected  at  the  election  held 

April  5,  T847,  by  °^000  majority.      The  vote  of  this  county  was:     For,  984; 

against,   2,027.     The  second  convention   met    December    15.    1847.   and   ad- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  8 1. 

journed  February  i,  [848.  At  the  election,  March  13,  [848,  its  work  was 
adopted  by  10.000  majority.  The  county's  vmr  was:  For,  [,323;  against, 
574.     Walworth's  representatives  in  these  conventions  were  as  follows: 

FIRST    CONVENTION. 

Charles  Minton  Maker.  Geneva:  William  Bell,  Walworth:  William  Berry, 
Spring  Prairie;  Joseph  Bowker.  Delavan;  John  William  Boyd,  I. inn;  Lyman 
Hunt  Seaver,  Darien;  Josiah  Topping,  Sharon;  Solmous  Wakeley,  White- 
water. 

SECOND  CONVENTION. 

Experience  Estabrook.  Geneva;  George  Gale.  Elkhorn;  James  Harring- 
ton, Spring  Prairie;  Augustus  Caesar  Kinne,  Sugar  Creek;  Mollis  Latham, 
Elkhorn;  Dr.  Ezra  Ames  Mulford,  Walworth. 

It  has  been  told  that  the  first  constitution  was  rejected  for  causes  too 
complex  for  easily  explaining.  This  may  be  true,  but  there  was  and  is  a  gen- 
eral impression  that  the  principal  cause  lay  in  article  X,  section  1,  the  whole 
text  of  which  was:  "There  shall  be  no  bank  of  issue  within  this  state."  The 
six  other  sections  were  more  specific  in  terms,  but  were  of  like  import.  Article 
XI,  sections  4  and  5,  of  the  constitution  adopted,  in  effect,  referred  the  qu 
tion  of  bank  to  popular  vote.  In  November,  1N51.  this  county  voted  with 
the  rest  of  the  state  to  permit  banks  of  issue  by  2,054  yeas  to  229  na)  - 

Walworth  count\  has  been  represented  bv  her  own  citizens  on  the  bench 
of  the  first  judicial  circuit,  first  by  Wyman  Spooner  of  Elkhorn,  whom  I  \o 
ernor  Farwell  appointed  in  [853,  Judge  Whiton  having  become  chief  just 
of  the  supreme  court,  and  he  held  the  fall  term  of  court  in  each  count)'  of 
the  circuit.  At  the  November  election  James  R.  Doolittle,  of  Racine,  defi  at  d 
Judge  Spooner  as  a  candidate  for  the  rest  of  the  unexpired  term.  On  fudge 
Lyon's  transference  from  the  circuit  bench  to  that  of  the  higher  court,  Robert 
Harkness,  of  Elkhorn,  succeeded,  and  his  own  resignation,  in  March.  1875, 
opened  the  way  to  John  Theodore  Wentworth,  of  Geneva,  who  was  elected 
in  April  and  held  the  June  term  of  court  for  thai  year.  I  le  removed  to  Racine 
and  was  rechosen  in  [877  and  served  until  January,  [884,  having  been  de- 
feated by  John  Bradley  Winslow,  now  chief  justice  of  the  supreme  court 

In  the  territorial  period  judges  of  prol   "•    were  appointed.     Under  state 
government  county   judges  are  chosen  at    Vpril  el  for  terms  of   four 

years,  beginning  first  Monday  of  January  following.     The  dati  n  in  tin- 

several  official  list-  arc  term  beginnings. 

(6) 


82  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

PROBATE   JUDGES. 

Joseph  Griffin Geneva June  4,  1840 

John  Fox  Potter East  Troy March  26,  1842 

William  Cheney  Allen Delavan June  24,  1843 

Wyman    Spooner Elkhom January  26,  1847 

COUNTY   JUDGES. 

William    Cheney   Allen Delavan January  7.  1850 

Lyman  Cowdery Elkhom January   14,  1856 

John  Fox  Potter East  Troy June  2,  1856 

Peter  Colder Elkhorn April  30,    1857 

Jaynes  Bailey  Wheeler Elkhorn January  4,  1886 

Jay  Forrest  Lyon Elkhorn January  21,,  1899 

Judge  Allen  having  resigned,  Governor  Barstow  appointed  Mr.  Cow- 
dery. Mr.  Potter  was  elected  in  April  for  the  rest  of  Allen's  term;  hut  his 
own  election  in  November  to  Congress  made  another  soon-following  change. 
Judge  Colder  had  served  nearly  twenty-nine  years,  when  his  loss  of  hearing 
compelled  his  retirement.  Judge  Wheeler  resigned  and  went  to  his  old  home 
at  or  near  Rutland,  Vermont,  and  Governor  Schofield's  appointment,  with 
three  elections  for  full  terms,  have  prolonged  Judge  Lyon's  tenure  of  this 
now  more  than  ever  before  important  office  to  January,   1914. 

COURT  COMMISSIONERS. 

Court  commissioners  have  been  appointed  by  the  several  circuit  judges, 
but  the  record  of  these  officers  is  not  found  for  the  period  previous  to  [867. 
A  few  names  are  mentioned  incidentally  in  other  records,  and  these  are  in- 
cluded without  exact  date  of  the  terms:  William  C.  Allen,  i8(k;;  Charles 
M.  Baker,  Alanson  11.  Barnes,  [861;  Dwight  Bennett  Barnes,  [893;  Pitt 
Noble  Cravath,  [891;  Prosper  Cravath,  between  [862  and  [875;  Christo- 
pher Douglass,  1842;  George  Gale,  1S42;  Peter  Golder,  [856;  Charles  E. 
Griffin,  [866;  Henrj  Heady,  between  1N75  and  [892;  Robert  Holley,  [841; 
loseph  F.  Lyon,  between  [884  and  [893;  Silas  W.  Menzie,  between  [870  and 
[885;  Henrj  O.  Montague,   1 86 1 ;  James  Simmons,  between  1N71  and  [893; 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  83 

Alfred  S.  Spooner,  between  1872  and  [893;  Ernesl  L.  von  Suessmilch,  [895; 
Charles  B.  Sumner.  [891;  Solmous  Wakeley,  [861;  form  T.  Wentworth, 
1863:  Albert  T.  Wheeler.  1861. 

State  and  county  officers  are  elected  in  November  for  a  term  beeinnin? 
the  first  Monday  of  January  following. 

STATE  SENATORS. 

John  William  Boyd Linn 1848-9,  [858  9 

( leorge  Gale Elkhorn [850  1 

Eleazar   Wakeley Whitewater 1 852-5 

Dr.  Jesse  Carr  Mills Elkhorn [856-7 

*Dr.  Oscar  F.  Bartlett East    Tn  >y    [860-] 

Wyman    Spooner Elkhorn 1862-3 

Newton  M.  Littlejohn Whitewater [86 

Samuel  Pratt Spring  I 'rairie 1870-3 

Thompson  Dimock  Weeks Whitewater [874-5,  [893  6 

Asahel  Farr Kenosha [876-7 

*Dr.  Benoni  Orrin  Reynolds Lake  ( ieneva    1 878  1 1 

Joseph  Very  Quarles Kenosha [880- ] 

*Charles  Palmetier Lake  Geneva 1882-4 

Walter  S.  Maxwell Kenosha [885-8 

Dr.  James  Constant  Reynolds Lake  Geneva [889-92 

Albert  Solliday Watertown 1807-8 

John  Harrison  Harris   Elkhorn [899-1902 

Zadock    Pratt    Beach Whitewater [903-6 

John  A.  Hazelwood  Jefferson [907   to 

Charles  A.  Snover Jefferson mi  1    1  1 

The  constitutional  amendment  of  [882,  making  legislative  sessions  bi- 
ennial and  elections  for  state  and  comity  offices  fall  in  even-numbered  years. 
added  a  year  to  terms  of  all  such  officers  as  were  chosen  in  the  previous  yg 
There  was  no  legislative  session  for  [884.  Two  apportionments  between 
1890  and  [900  changed  the  number  of  this  senate  district  from  even  to  odd 
and  thus  Mr.  Solliday  sat  in  but  one  session  for  the  joint  district.  Drs.  I'..  '  » 
and  J.  C.  Reynolds  are  respectively  father  and  son.  Names  marked'  *  are 
of  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war.  who  are  s, ,  denoted  in  all  the  following  official 
lists. 


84  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

MEMBERS   OF   ASSEMBLY. 

Abell,  Alfred  H Geneva 1877 

Aldrich,  Alma  Montgomery Spring  Prairie 1878 

*  Allen,  Dwight  Sidney Linn 1889 

Allen,  George Linn 1855 

Allen,  George  Rue Bloomfield 1880 

Allen,  Lucius Spring  Prairie 1864 

Allen,  William  Cheney Delavan 1866-7 

Allen,  William  P Sharon 1854 

Arnold,  Fayette  P Sharon 1862 

Babcock,  Alender  O East  Troy   1850 

Baker,  James East  Troy  1858 

Barlow,  Stephen  Steele Delavan 1852 

Barnes,  Dwight  Bennett Delavan    1880- 1 

*Bartlett,  Dr.  Oscar  F East  Troy 1853-4 

Bell,  John Lafayette 1853 

Benson,  Schuyler  Ward Bloomfield 1861 

*Blanchard,  Dr.  Caleb  Sly East  Troy   1880 

*Boyce,  Dr.  Hilton  W Geneva 1862 

*Brownson,  John  W Sharon 1882 

Buckbee,  Francis  A Geneva 1867-1874 

Bunker,  Nathaniel  Mead Troy 1875 

Burgit,  William East  Troy 1870-1874 

Chapin,    William   Densmore Bloomfield 1856 

Cheney,  Rufus,  Jr Whitewater 1850 

Child,  James Lafayette i860 

Clough,  Darwin  P Darien 1899 

Cochrane,  William  Avery Delavan 1803 

*Coe,  Edwin  Delos Whitewater    1S78-9 

Conrick,  Edward  P Delavan 1859 

Cooper.  Dr.  Joel  Henry Spring  Prairie 1S52 

Cravath,  Prosper Whitewater 1848 

Davis,  Thomas Sugar  Creek 1863-6 

Derthick.  Waller  ( leorge Lafayette [882 

1  )ewing,  Ely  Bruce Elkhorn   1879 

De  Wolf,  John Darien i860 

Douglass,   Carlos   Lavallette Walworth 1873 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  85 

Dow,  Everett  E Lagrange igoi 

Dunlap,  Charles Geneva   1875 

Easton.  Elijah Walworth 1851,  [858 

Edgerton,  Stephen  R Lafaj  ette   1870 

Estabrook,  Experience Geneva  iS;  1 

*Farr,  Asa  W Geneva  1856 

Fellows,  Timothy  Hopkins Bloomfield    ^^2-3 

Foster,  George  H Whitewater    [863 

Fraser,  Frank  L East  Tn  >y    1893-6 

Goff,  Sidney  Clayton Elkhorn    1  <  1 1  1 

( iraves.  Gaylord East  Troy   [848 

( ireening,  William Lagrange   1 8, ,- 

( irier.  Thomas  S Bloomfield    18-15 

Groesbeck,  Benjamin  F Linn    1865 

Hall,  Henry Walworth 1  > 

Harrington,  Perry  Green Sugar  Creek   185  | 

Hastings.  Samuel  Dexter Geneva iS  p, 

Hazard,  Enos  J Lagrange   1849 

Heminway.  Henry  C Richmond 1851 

Herron,  Wilson  R Sharon    1874- 1 877 

Hill.  Thomas  Worden Hudson  1853,   1863 

Hooper,  Daniel  Tl'°.v 1855,  1850.  1 8( ><  1 

Hurlbut,  Dr.  Wrilliam  Henry Elkhorn 1897.    ' s'  >' ' 

Isham,  William  Willard Delavan 1X55 

letters.  John Sharon 1864,    187  r 

Johnson,  Frank  H Darien [905 

♦Johnson.  John  B Darien 1 NS- 

*Kellam.  Alphonso  G Delavan    ,8,,,, 

Kelsey.  Milo   Delavan    1848.    T8  \g 

*Kizer,  Fernando  Cortez Whitewater 1889,    1801 

Kull.  Edwin  O Bloomfield    1909 

Lake.  Phipps  Waldo Walworth 1854 

Latham,  Hollis Elkhorn    1. 

Lauderdale,  James Lagrange [853,  1856 

Lee,  Levi Elkhorn 1855 

Long,   Chester  Deming Darien    1861 

Long,  Hugh 1  >arien 1848 

Lown,  George  Hiram Walworth    1 

1 ,3 1  m,  Joseph  Foster Darien 1808 


86  WALWOHTII    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

McKibbin,  John Linn   1858 

Mason,  Albert  L Sharon 1879 

Maxon,  Joseph  F Walworth 1891 

Mead,  Zerah Whitewater   1852 

Meadows,  William Lyons 1881 

Merriam,   Amzy Linn 1871 

*Miller,  Dr.  Clarkson Geneva   i860 

Noble,  Butler  G Whitewater 1858 

Palmer,  Dr.  Alexander  S Geneva 1850 

Pemberton,  John Richmond 1878 

Pettit,  Paris East  Troy    1866 

Potter.  John  Fox East  Troy 1856 

Pratt,  Orris Spring  Prairie 1883 

Pratt.  Samuel Spring  Prairie 1849,  l855,  l863 

Ray,  Adam  E East  Troy 185 1 

Ray,  George  A Lagrange   1868 

Raymi  >nd,  Shepard  O Geneva 1866 

*  Reynolds,  Dr.  Benoni  Orrin Lake  Geneva  .  .  .  . 1876 

Reynolds,   Dr.  James   Constant Lake  Geneva 1885,  1887 

Richardson,  Erasmus  Darwin Geneva 1848 

Rockwell,  Reuben Hudson    1859 

*Roundy,  Dr.  Daniel  C Geneva 1864 

Seaver,    Joseph    Warren Darien 1853 

Seymour.    Robert    Thompson Lafayette 1856 

Sharp,  Elijah  Matteson Delavan 1872,  1875 

Sikes,  George    Sharon 1850 

*Smith,  Albert  E Delavan 1901-4 

Smith,  Daniel Richmond 1864 

Smith,   Francis Sugar  Creek t86l 

:  Smith.  John  A Geneva [868,  [869 

Smith.  Lindsey  Joseph Troy 1881 

Spafard,    Simeon    W Geneva 1854 

Spooner,  Wyman Elkhom 1850-1,  1S57.  1N01 

Sprague,  Edward  Harvey Elkhorn    1907 

Stafford,  Amos  Wagrnan Bloomfield 1872 

Stearns,  1  )aniel  Mansfield Sugar  Creek 1876 

Stewart,     \11drew   J Richmond 1887 

Stew  art.  Donald Sugar  Creek 1882.   1883 

Sturtevant,  Charles  Holmes Delavan 1863 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN".  87 

Teeple,  Charles  S Darien    1876 

Thomas,  Salmon Darien 1856 

*Tilton,  Hezekiah  C Sharon [865 

Voorhees,  Samuel  Wood Sharon '857 

Wakeley.  Solmous Whitewater 1855,    [856,    1857 

Weeks.  Thompson  Dimock Whitewater [867 

White,  Samuel  Austin Whitewater 1N71.   [872 

Whiting,    Anderson Richmond 1854,  [860 

Williams,  David Geneva [857 

Winsor,  Horatio  Sales Elkhorn    [865 

Wood.  Lewis  X Walworth 1852 

The  names  of  physicians  in  this  list  and  the  next  one  show  that  the  pro 
fession,  as  practiced  here,  did  not  regard  politics  and  medicine  as  incompatible, 
the  one  with  the  other;  and  the  Civil  war  found  ;un  >tlier  field  for  their  activity. 
George  and  Dwight  S.  Allen  were  father  and  son,  as  were  Hugh  and  Chester 
D.  Long.  Samuel  and  Orris  Pratt  and  Solmous  and  Eleazar  Wakeley,  the 
latter  of  the  State  Senate.  A.  E.  and  J.  A.  Smith  were  brothers.  .Mr.  Tilton 
was  a  Methodist  clergyman. 

CHAIRMEN    OF    COUNTY   BOARD   OF   SUPERVISORS. 

Capron,  John  M Geneva [842 

Mills.  Dr.  Jesse  Carr Spring  Prairie (843 

Graves,  Gaylord East  Troy [843 

Magoon,  Dr.  Oliver  C Whitewater    1*  I  I 

Bell,  Nathaniel Lafayette   [845,  (846 

Farnum,  John  Allen Geneva  [846 

Gale,   George    Elkhorn    1847,  |SIS 

Ray.  Adam  E Troy 1849,  |S5''-  l857 

Snell.  John  Peter Linn    1850 

Winsor,  Horatio  Sales Elkhorn    (851 

1  1  tton,  George Darien    1852 

Rockwell.  LeGrand Elkhorn   

Frost.  Eli  Kimball Sugar  I  reek •  x54-  's55 

Conrick.  Edward  P I  >elavan    ■  t8j8,  [859 

Hodges.  Edwin Elkhorn  [860,  r86l 

Sturtevant.  Charles  Holmes I  )elavan    

Hill,  Thomas  Worden Hudson    1863,    [864,    [865 


88  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Allen,  George Linn   1866 

Allen,  Lucius Spring  Prairie 1867 

Seymour,  Robert  Thompson Lafayette 1868.  1873 

Chapin.  William  Densmore Bloomfield   1869.  1881 

Richardson,  Erasmus  Darwin Geneva 1870 

Lyon,  Joseph  Foster Darien    1871,  1872 

Boyd,  John  William Linn   1874 

Williams,  David Darien    1875 

DeWolf,  John Darien    1876 

Treat.  Julius  Allen Sharon   1877.  1882 

Bishop,  Matthew  P LaGrange 1878.  1879 

*  Allen,  Dwight  Sidney Linn    1880.    1883-90 

Allen.  George  Rue Bloomfield    1891-97 

Barr,  George  W Linn    1898-1902 

Douglass,  Carlos  Stewart Walworth 1903.  1910 

Christie,  George Darien    191 1 

Messrs.  Bell,  Gale,  Winsor,  Cotton,  Rockwell  and  Treat  were  Demo- 
crats. Messrs.  Mills.  Cotton,  Conrick,  Lucius  Allen,  Lyon  and  Williams  had 
been  or  were  afterward  citizens  of  other  towns  than  those  here  named. 

The  order  of  county  officers  as  prescribed  by  statute  for  printing  official 
ballots  is:  County  clerk  (for  many  years  named  "clerk  of  the  board  of  su- 
pervisors"), county  treasurer,  sheriff,  coroner,  clerk  of  circuit  and  county 
court,  district  attorney,  register  of  deeds,  county  surveyor.  The  older  ar- 
rangement had  been  in  the  order  of  their  desirability  for  candidates.  This 
placed  sheriff,  register  of  deeds  and  treasurer  at  and  next  to  the  head  of  the 
tickets  and  the  coroner  at  the  foot.  Since  1883  their  biennial  terms  have 
begun  on  the  first  Monday  of  January,  in  odd-numbered  years.  Since  1905 
the  superintendents  of  schools  have  been  chosen  the  first  Tuesday  of  April 
and  begun  their  terms  on  the  first  Monday  of  July. 

COUNTY    CLERKS. 

McCraken,  Volney  Anderson Lagrange   1839 

Latham,  Hollis Elkhorn    1840,  1841.  [843 

Kelsey,  Milo  (old  board) Delavan    1842 

Fish,  John  (new  board) Delavan    1842 

1  lodges,  Edwin Elkhorn    1846 

Thompson,  Albert  A Linn    1847 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  89 

Frost.  Eli  Kimball   Sugar  Creek    [848 

Cowdery,  Lyman   Elkhorn    185  J 

Sibley.  Charles  W Bioomfield    1 853 

Dewing.    Myron    Edwin Elkhorn    1857  1 87  ( 

Dewing,  Ely  Bruce  (deputy) Elkhorn    1871 

Cowdery.  Dyar  Lamotte Elkhorn    1 X75-  k>oo 

Clough,  William  E.  (deputy) Darien    1900 

Harrington,  Grant  Dean Delavan    1901-1913 

Myron  E.  Dewing  died  March  26,  1 S 7  | .  and  his  brother  served  till  the 
end  of  the  year.  The  Cowderys  were  father  and  son.  The  latter  died  May 
10.  1900.  The  records  of  this  office  have  suffered  little  from  fading  and  dis- 
coloration, and  are  generally  easily  legible.  Mr.  Thompson's  records  art' 
pleasant  to  look  upon  for  their  neat  handwriting  and  their  clerical  form.  At 
two  years  old,  Myron  E.  Dewing  lost  the  ringers  of  both  hands  by  burning  in 
the  embers  of  a  rubbish  fire.  He  learned  to  write  a  bold,  business-like  hand. 
and  early  reached  a  surprising  degree  of  expertness  in  many  things  that 
usually  require  unmaimed  fingers.  His  aptitude  for  the  duties  of  his  place 
made  him  almost  indispensable  to  the  county  board.  His  two  successors  bet 
tered  his  excellent  example,  and,  since  1903,  the  board's  proceedings  have 
been  neatly  and  accurately  typewritten. 

COUNTY   TREASURERS. 

Hollinshead,  William  I  Via  van    1838.  1839 

Norris,  Edward Delavan    [839,  [840 

Spooner.  Jeduthun   Sugar  Creek   [842 

Winsor,  Horatio  Sales Elkhorn    ri 

Lee,  Levi Elkhorn   1844 

Bellows,  Curtis   Elkhorn    [845 

Mallory,  Samuel  Elkhorn    1846 

Hartson,  Henry  Hobart Elkhorn    1847,  1 853   1 

Latham,  Hollis  Elkhorn    [852 

T  Iandy.  Daniel  Parmelee Geneva    1 

Brett,  John  Flavel Elkhorn    [81 

McGraw,  Newton Delavan    1X67-8 

Fairchild,  David  Lupe Walworth [869-76 

Blomiley,  Fred  W Lagrange    1877-82 

Lauderdale.  James  Henry  Elkhorn    [81 


90  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

*Church,  Leonard  Cyrus Walworth 1887-92 

Clough,  William  E ,. . .  Darien    1893-6 

Allen.  William  H Bloomrleld    1897-1900 

Farley.  William  E Lyons    1901-04 

Foot,  Harry  H Sharon    1905-7 

Foot,  Clinton  H.   (deputy) Sharon   1908 

\"<  >rris,   Harley  Cornelius Elkhorn    1909-12 

Since  1893  the  treasurer  has  been  limited  by  statute  to  two  terms  of  con- 
tinuous service.  Mr.  Foot  died  at  Elkhorn,  June  I,  1908,  and  his  son  com- 
pleted the  term  of  office. 

SHERIFFS. 

Walling,  Sheldon    Geneva   1839 

Mallory,  Russell  H Geneva 1841 

May,  William  K Bloomfield    1 843 

Bell,  Nathaniel    Lafayette    1845 

Preston,  Otis Spring   Prairie    1848 

Carver,  Philetus  S Delavan    1851 

Crumb,  Joseph  Clark Walworth    1853 

Gates,  Joseph    Geneva 1855 

Perry,  John  Adams   Troy    1857 

Stone,  Hiram  A Darien 1859-60.  1867-8 

*Wylie,  George  Washington Lafayette 1861-2,  1865-6,  [881-2 

Billings,  Seth  M Whitewater    1863-4 

Humphrey,  William  Sharon    1869-70 

Fay,  Charles  G Whitewater    1871-2 

Tayl<  t.  ( "\ rus  P Lyons    I&73-4,    1877-8 

*Goff,  Sidney  Calkins East  Troy    1  ^7^-^ 

Babcock,  Stephen  S Delavan 1879-80,  [883-4 

Derthick,  John  Henry Spring  Prairie   [885-6,   iS<>i-2 

Wiswell,  George  Nelson Elkhorn    1887-8 

*  Foster,  Lewis  George Lake  Geneva 1889-00,  1893-4 

I  [ollister,  Seth  Henry Delavan 1895-6,  1899-1900 

McMillan,  Fred  Alonzo Whitewater    1897-8 

\\  hite,  Edgar  E Elkhorn    1901-2,    1907-8 

*Flanders,  Joseph  Taylor   Lyons ,.  .  .  1903-4,   1909 

Harrington,  George  L Lafayette    1905-6,   1910 

I'iper,  John   Darien    191 1-13 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  f)t 

Sheriff  Flanders  died  suddenly  at  tea-table,  December  [6,  [909,  and  ox- 
Sheriff  Harrington  was  appointed  by  Governor  Davidson  to  serve  until  mh  1. 
Mr.  Goff  is  the  oldest  living  ex-sheriff.  Babcock  and  Wiswell  arc  dead.  At 
the  end  of  Wiswell's  term  he  was  appointed  United  States  marshal  for  east- 
ern Wisconsin.  He  had  held  the  post  of  sergeant-at-arms  of  the  Republican 
national  convention  of  1900,  at  Philadelphia. 

The  rather  shadowy  line  of  coroners  began  in  [839  with  Hollis  Latham. 
A  single  function,  that  of  serving  papers  on  the  sheriff,  if  occasion  requires, 
is  about  all  that  is  left  belonging  to  these  statutory  but  unsalaried  and  practi- 
cally unfee'd  officers,  for  justices  of  the  peace  may  and  usually  do  held  in- 
quests. A  statute  of  1875  seemed  a  little  more  favorable  I"  coroners,  but 
still  left  their  pay  to  the  judgment  or  liberality  of  county  boards  of  supei 
visors.  William  H.  Bell,  then  of  Elkhorn,  had  been  elected  in  1874,  but, 
according  to  usage,  had  not  "qualified."  He  now  hastened  to  take  the  oath 
of  office,  and  to  ask  the  board  at  its   November  session  to  make  the  place 


w  < ' 


rth  the  holding 


His  memorial,  petition,  or  "sifnication"  was  received  as  soberly  as  possi 
hie.  and  the  sum  of  fifteen  dollars  was  the   salary    fixed.      Since    [848   the 
coroners   elected   were,    in   that   year,    Horace    Noble    Hay,   and    thereafter 
David   Williams.   Samuel  Pratt,  William    11.    1'ettit.  John    B.    Hutchiris,    Dr. 
Daniel  C.   Roundy,  G.  C.  Gardner.  Julius   A.   Treat,    Henry   Adkins,   G.  C. 
Gardner  (again),  Wellington  Hendnx.  Abram  G.  I. Hand.  Charles  D.   Root, 
William  H.   Bell,  Charles  Lysander   Lyon.      Mr.    Bell    was  cho.cn   at    four 
successive  elections    (the  last   one  111    [880),  and   Mr.   Lyon  has  been   elected 
biennially    from    1882   to    1910,    and    has    given    his   official    bond    and    taken 
his  oath  of  office  for  fifteen  terms.     From  [848  to  1906,  in  which  latter  year 
primarv  elections  put  aside  the  old    machinery   of   nominations.    Republii 
county  conventions,  whose  work  was  always  ratified  at  the  November  polls. 
struggled  titanically  to  determine  majorities    lor  their   nominees   until   n 
the  lower  end  of  the  ticket.     Then,  weaned  of  their  almost  deadly  earn 
ness,  they  ended  their  work  in  the  smoke  of  cigars  (passed  aboul  by  success 
ful    candidates),    with    an    acclamation    for    some    worthy    citizen    who    least 
looked   for  such  honor.     The  nomination    for  coroner  was  thus  a  tired  con 

vention's  return  to  care  free  g 1  humor.     Mr.  Lyon's  acceptance  of  h 

fortune  was  at  first  his  part  of  the  joke,  and  it  afterward  became  his  ha 
As  turnkev  and  deputy  under  several   sheriffs  he  was  dear  headed  and   r< 
lute.    Though  now  more  than  "eighty  years  young,"  he  is  yet  the  Yorick  ol 
county  officers.     The  late  Joseph  F.  Lyon  was  his  brother. 


92  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

CLERKS  OF   THE   CIRCUIT   COURT. 

Pettit,  William  Harrison Elkhorn    1849-54 

Cousins,  Henry East  Troy 1855-60 

Simmons,  James Geneva    1861-70 

Wentworth,  John  Theodore Geneva    1871-5 

Lyon,  Joseph  Foster Darien    jS/Sv 

*  Allen,  Levi  E Sharon    1878-84 

Keats,  Washington  Sidney East  Troy 1885-8 

Dewing.  Ely  Bruce Elkhorn    1889-94 

Morgan,  Theron  Rufus Darien    1895-1905 

Kellogg,  George  Olney Whitewater 1905-12 

Mr.  Morgan  died  September  28,  1905,  and  Mr.  Kellogg  filled  out  the 
term  by  appointment.  Mr.  Wentworth  became  circuit  judge  in  June.  1875. 
ami  he  appointed  Mr.  Lyon  to  serve  till  the  next  election. 

DISTRICT  ATTORNEYS. 

Baker,  Charles  Minton Geneva 1839 

Estabrook,  Experience Geneva 1S41 

Barlow,  Stephen  Steele Delavan    1845.  T<C!5- 

Meacham.  Urban  Duncan   East  Troy   1849 

Spooner,  Alfred  Stephens Delavan    1854.  1856.  1878 

Smith.  Harley  Flavel  (acting) Elkhorn    1854 

Wentworth,  John  Theodore Geneva 1858,  i860 

Murphey,  Newton  S Whitewater   1862 

Babcock,  Alender  O East  Troy   1864 

*Harkness,  Robert Elkhorn    1865,  1868,  1870 

Thomas,  Alfred  Delavan Delavan    1872,  1874.  T876 

Wheeler,  Jaynes  Bailey Elkhorn   1S80 

Sprague,  Edward  Harvey   Elkhorn    1882 

Menzie,  Silas  W Delavan    1885,  1887 

lu-alls,  Wallace Sharon   1889.  1891 

Sumner,   Charles  Bennett    Delavan    1893,  r895.  l897 

1  [amilton,  Hubert  O Whitewater   1899 

Burdick,  Hugh  A Lake  Geneva 1901,   1903 

In-alls,  John  Peter Walworth 1905.  1907.  1909 

Bulkley,  Robert  C Whitewater   191 1 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  93 

Wallace  and  John  P.  Ingalls  are  brothers,  the  former  now  of  Racine; 
the  latter  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  with  Spain.  Messrs.  Wentworth,  llark- 
ness,  Thomas  and  Wheeler  became  judges  of  various  courts. 

REGISTERS    OF    DEEDS. 

Rockwell,  LeGrand Elkhorn   1 834  j 

Davis,  Booth  Beers Hudson    1 842 

Boyd,  John  S Sugar  Creek   1843 

Lyon,  Isaac Hudson    (846 

Frost,  Eli  Kimball Sugar  Creek 1847 

Long,  Chester  Deming Darien    [851 

Perry,  John  Adams   Troy 1853 

Adkins,  Henry   Lagrange  *&?r-  '  857 

Humphrey.  Benjamin  Blodgett Geneva 185'  >,  r86i 

Houghton,  Otis  B Spring  Prairie 1863,  [805 

Lawton,  James  H Lagrange   1 867 

*Noyes,  Charles  Augustus Geneva 1869,  1871,  1873 

Sanborn,   Arthur  Loomis    Geneva l&75>  '  ^77 

Morrison,  William  Henry Troy i%79-  1881,  1883 

Webster,  Joseph  Haydn Elkhorn   1885.  1887 

Taylor,  William  Thomas    Lagrange  1889.  1891,  1893 

*Barnes,  Henry  D Spring  Prairie.  1895,  [897,  [899,  1901, 

[903 

1 1'  >lmes,  Frank  G Whitewater   [9°5!  l9°7 

Dunbar.  Samuel  James Elkhorn    1909,  \<>i  1 

Mr.  Davis  had  lost  both  legs  by  freezing,     lit'  was  a  pioneer  at  Hudson, 
but  after  his  term  of  office  had  ended  he  remained  a  citizen  of  Elkhorn  till 
death  in  1880.     Mr.  Noyes,  his  father's  namesake,  was  a  nephew  of  the  pio 
neer  Warrens  of  Geneva  village  and  a  son-in-law  of  Benjamin  B.  Humph 
He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Eighth  Wisconsin  Infantry,  and  a  wound  d  at 

Farmington,  Tennessee,  crippled  him  for  life.     Mr.  Morrison  became  director 
of  fanners'  institutes,  and  dud  al   Madison  in   [893.     Mr.  Webster  1-  a 
of  the  composer,  Joseph  Philbrick  Webster. 

COUNTY   SURVEYORS. 

Norris,  Edward Delavan   1839 

McKaig,  Thomas  Morris Geneva  1847 


94  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Kelsey,  Samuel  C Delavan   1853 

Tubbs,  James  Lawrence Lafayette  ....  1855  to  1865,  1867,  1869 

Beckwith,  Warren Geneva  1865,  1871.  1873,  T875 

Child,  James   Lafayette 1877  to  1891 

Taylor.  Ray  W Richmond    1891 

Child.  William Lafayette 1893  to  1905,  191 1 

Maxon,  Jesse  G Walworth    1905 

Teeple,  George  L Whitewater   1907.  1909 

James  and  William  Child  were  father  and  son.  The  elder  Mr.  Child 
once  said,  in  the  latter  half  of  his  long  tenure  of  this  office,  that  while  he  had 
done  much  professional  work  within  that  period,  he  had  been  employed 
but  three  times  because  of  his  official  position.  As  long  as  original  corner- 
stakes  of  towns  and  sections  left  their  traces  Mr.  Tubbs  was  accounted  the 
one  man  in  the  county  surest  to  find  them. 

SUPERINTENDENTS    OF    SCHOOLS. 

*Cheney,  Augustus  Jackman Delavan    1863,  1864 

Smith,  Osmore  R Geneva A  pp.  March  1 ,   1865 

Bright,  Orville  Thomas   Geneva 1867 

Bright.  William  H Geneva \pp.  Aug.  31,   1868 

*Lee,  Elon  Nelson Delavan    1869 

Montague,    Melzer Sharon   1871 

Ballard,  Samuel  P Sharon,  I  App.  January  3,  1873  ),  1S74 

Isham,  Fred  Willard Sugar  Creek 1876,  1878 

Taylor.  William  R Richmond    1880.  1882 

Skeels.  John  G Sharon   1885 

Williams.  Leo  A Whitewater    1887,  1889,  1891 

Taylor.  Kay  W Richmond l&93i-  1895 

Webster,  Lillian  B Whitewater   1897 

Vi  iss,  John  Gustavus Sugar  Creek i8gg  to  1909 

Martin,  Helen Elkhorn    1909 

Mr.  Montague  was  killed  in  December,  [872  (by  sleigh-ride  accident), 
and  Mr.  Ballard  was  appointed  to  serve  till  [874,  and  elected  for  another 
term.  The  Taylors  were  father  and  son.  in  like  order  of  service.  Miss 
Webster  is  mm  Mrs.  Charles  P.  Greene,  of  Elkhorn.  This  superintendency, 
at  first  something  mure  than  nominal,  by  slowly,  surely,  forward  steps  has 
reached  a  high  order  of  efficiency.  Every  district  in  the  county,  one  hundred 
and  four  (besides  the  graded  schools  and  high  schools),  is  visited  yearly  and 
as  much  oftener  as  found  necessary. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  95 

SUPERINTENDENTS    OF     POOR     AND    INSANE. 

Gaston.  Dr.  Norman  L Delavan 1852- 1855 

Clark  Henry  B East  Troy [852-1854 

Williams.  David   ( Geneva    [852-1855 

Latham.  Hollis Elkhorn    [854-1886 

Rice,  Edwin  Mortimer Richmond  [855-186] 

Gage.   Thomas    Spring  Prairie 1855-186  | 

Salisbury,  Daniel Spring  Prairie [859 

Hulce.  Elisha Richmond   [86l    (891 

Hill.  Thomas  Worden   Lyons    1864-  [879 

Dunlap.  Charles   <  Geneva    [879  [914 

Davis.  John  Potter Richmond [886-1912 

dishing.  Joseph  H Whitewater 1891-11)01 

Spooner.  Truman  Rollin   Whitewater 1001    [913 

Hemstreet.  Frederick Spring  Prairie [912-1915 

Mr.  Salisbury  did  not  serve  and  Mr.  Gage  resumed  his  place  until  his 
resignation  in  November,  1864.  Air.  Hill  died  May  26,  [879,  Mr.  Latham 
February  26,  [886,  Mr.  Hulce  September  14.  [893,  and  Mr.  Cushing  August 
31,  1901.  The  resident  managers  at  the  county  farm,  rather  confusingly 
called  superintendents,  have  been : 

Irish.  Earl  M 1  >elavan    [852 

Irish,  Joseph  E Richmond • [853 

French.  Charles  S ( leneva   [855 

Gray.    Elihu     Geneva    [856 

Gray,  Thomas  Baker '  Geneva  ' s'  ' ' 

Hill,  Thomas  Worden  Lyons  ' 

Dunlap.  Charles    Geneva   [879 

Davis.  John  Potter Richmond 1882 

Allen.  William  II Bloomfield    ' 

Charles.  Henry  R Whitewater   ' 

Stanford.  DeWitt Elkh.  >rn   

In     [887  the  county  board  ordered  a  tax  of  one  tenth  o)  a  mill   for  a 
soldiers'  relief  fund  and  appointed  a  committee  of  three  '  ivil 

war  to  administer  it.     The  fund  has  been  found  more  than  sufficient 
purposes  prescribed.    The  sum  used  in  [910  was  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
dollars.     The  members  have  been: 


96  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Knilans,   William   Allen Whitewater   1888 

Allen,  Dwight  Sidney Linn 1888 

Matheson,  John   Elkhorn   1888 

Church,  Leonard  Cyrus Walworth    1890 

Kizer,  Fernando  Cortez Whitewater   1903 

Meadows,  John  Greenwood Lyons    1908 

Mr.  Matheson  died  November  17,  1890.  Captain  Knilans  removed  in 
1902  to  Beloit.     Mr.  Allen  died  May  5,  1908. 

Under  a  then  recent  statute,  creating  a  state  civil  service  commission, 
John  Gustavus  Voss  and  Albert  Clayton  Beckwith  were  appointed,  in  1905, 
local  examiners  for  the  county,  to  hold  their  places  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
commission. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PAST    AND    PRESENT    DIVISIONS    OF    POLITICAL    PARTIES. 

Men  of  New  England,  New  York  and  northern  Ohm  me1  in  these  .six- 
teen townships  to  build  up  a  new  community  in  no  way  essentially  different 
from  the  communities  they  had  just  left  far  eastward.  Most  of  these  nun 
brought  their  political  ideas,  notions,  or  prejudices  with  them.  They  were 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  with  a  few  Abolitionists.  They  might  vote,  each  ac- 
cording to  his  former  habit,  at  elections  for  delegate  in  Congress  and  foi 
members  of  the  territorial  Assembly:  but  the  record  of  the  county's  vote,  if 
such  record  was  ever  preserved,  is  not  found.  Judging  partly  from  the 
little  now  known  of  the  sentiments  at  that  time  of  successful  candidate.-,  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  small  Democratic  majority  or  plurality.  The  later 
comers  were  mostly  from  the  same  states  as  were  the  first  ground-breakers, 
and  do  not  appear  to  have  affected  greatly  the  relative  strength  of  parties.  In 
the  short  infancy  of  the  county  and  its  towns  it  may  be  supposed  that  local 
affairs  had  more  influence  at  elections  than  opinions  prescribed  by  national 
conventions  on  tariff.  United  States  Bank,  sub-treasury,  and  internal  impn 
ments.  Writing  of  the  earlier  days,  in  which  he  played  some  pari.  Judg  I 
-ays:  "Location  of  school  houses,  roads  and  amounl  of  tax  lev)  often  made 
tqwn  elections  most  spirited  of  any  in  the  year.  Politicians  of  "Id  towns 
have  no  adequate  idea  of  the  spirit  often  manifested  in  a  new  town  over  these 
matters.  Feuds  were  got  up  between  leading  families  that  have  not  passed 
away — and  similarly  throughout  the  we  t."  This  may  be  a  Macaulayan 
"heightened  and  telling  way  of  putting  things,  for  which  allowance  must  be 
made."  Whatever  may  have  been  the  earlier  facts  as  to  April  and  November 
elections,  the  yearly  inflow  of  settlers  must  have  tended  more  and  more  t" 
clearly-drawn  party  lines  in  general  elections.  At  the  beginning  of  state  gov- 
ernment a  new  political  question  had  just  grown  from  the  annexation  of 
Mexican  territory. 

By  [848  both  Whig  and  Democratic  parties  of  the  Northern  states  wi 
already  considerably   leavened,  as  to  their  members,   with   the   sentiment    of 
non-extension  of  slavery,  ami   the   "Wilmot    Proviso"   bad   spoken   the   word 
for  Walworth.     At  the  general  election  of  that  year,  while  the  electoral  vote 

(?) 


98  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 

of  Wisconsin  was  for  Lewi-  Cass,  this  county's  vote  was  1.494  for  Van 
Buren  (  Free-Soiler,),  804  for  Taylor  (Whig),  550  for  Cass  (Democrat). 
In  1852  the  county  vote  was  1.432  for  Hale  (Free-Soiler).  1,141  for  Pierce 
(Democrat),  and  965  for  Scott  (Whig).  In  1856  the  returns  showed 
3,518  for  Fremont,  1,297  for  Buchanan.  4  for  Fillmore.  The  intermediate 
state  and  congressional  elections  gave  similar  results,  for  at  each  of  these 
the  Free-Soil  candidates  were  consistently  preferred  to  Whigs  or  Democrats; 
though  in  185 1  the  Whig  candidate  for  governor.  Leonard  J.  Farwell,  was 
of  the  Free-Soil  wing  of  his  party  and  therefore  acceptable  to  Walworth. 
When,  in  1854.  a  convention  met  to  organize  the  Republican  party  of  Wis- 
consin. Wynian  Spooner  was  one  of  the  leaders  and  lights  of  that  high  de- 
liberation.  From  that  year  to  1910  the  county's  majority  has  been  only  for 
Republican -policies,  measures  and  candidates.  Until  i860  the  newspapers  an- 
nounced almost  daily  the  arrival  of  one  or  more  "prominent  Democrats" — 
leaders  or  "wheel  horse-" —  of  some  state  north  of  the  Ohio  and  between  two 
oceans  at  the  all-receiving  Republican  camp. 

At  the  dissolution  of  the  Whig  party  a  tew  of  its  members  joined  the 
victorious  Democracy,  but  by  far  the  greater  number  went  to  the  new  and 
hopeful  opposition.  It  was  observed  by  some  of  these  ex- Whigs  that  many 
converted  Democrats  were  thrusting  themselves  into  Republican  leadership 
anil  finding  choice  places  on  Republican  ballot-  with  little  or  no  probation  or 
delay.  Harley  F.  Smith,  a  lawyer  of  Elkhorn,  who  was  both  largely  toler- 
anl  and  harmlessly  satirical,  -aid  to  his  Democratic  friend  Preston,  early  in 
the  campaign  of  [860:  "<  'tis,  we  shall  beat  you  this  year,  surely."  Preston 
answered  drib'.  "Aba!"  and  asked.  "On-w  hat-do-you-pred-i-cate-your- 
o-pinion?"  Smith's  answer  to  this  rather  grandly-uttered  question  was: 
"Well,  we  have  now  taken  about  all  the  slippery  fellows  from  your  party  into 
ours."  In  September.  [856,  Judge  Doolittle,  of  the  first  circuit,  who  had 
resigned  after  the  January  term  of  court,  was  a  defeated  candidate  for  nom- 
ination at  the  Democratic  congressional  convention  of  the  first  district.  Early 
in  the  following  January  be  was  chosen  United  States  senator.  Arthur  Mc- 
Artlmr.  the  Democratic* president  of  the  state  Senate,  and  Wyman  Spooner, 
the  Republican  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  refused  to  sign  the  certificate  of 
Doolittle's  election.  This  was  "ii  the  ground  that  the  constitution  of  Wis- 
consin disqualified  judges  for  holding  other  office  within  the  period  for 
which  the)  bad  been  elected.  Bui  Doolittle  was  -cited  at  Washington,  as 
Judges  Trumbull  and  Harlan  bad  been  two  years  earlier,  in  spite  of  similar 
provision  in  the  Illinois  and  Iowa  constitutions.  Of  course,  some  men  said 
that  Mr.  McArthur  wished  to  punish  Doolittle  for  his  conversion  or  deser- 


W  w.w  mi;  i  ii    ,  01  \  i  v.  u  rs(  onsin.  99 

tion,  and  that  Judge  Spooner  wished  himself  to  take  Senator  Dodge's  seat; 
but  this  was  measuring  great  minds  by  the  gauge  of  small  souls. 

Before  each  jostling  political  atom  had  as  yel  settled  easily  and  firmly 
into  its  fitting  place  in  the  new  political  mass  some  slight  personal  jarring 
was  liable  to  occur  now  and  again.  Dr.  Philip  Maxwell,  who  had  become  a 
Republican,  had  held  Jackson's  commission  as  a  surgeon  of  the  regular  army, 
and  he  revered  "Old  Hickory"  as  a  Mars  in  war  and  a  Moses  in  politics 
Once  urged  to  take  Mime  part  in  a  Republican  mass  meeting  For  the  county, 

he   demurred,   saying   he   was   tired   of   hearing  Judge   S] ner,   "thai    blue 

bellied  old  Federalist,  while  he  should  stand  up  for  two  hours  to  abuse  Gen 
•eral  Jackson."      The  Doctor  was  over  touchy,   for  the  Judge  did  hut  a< 
the  old  General  of  having  invented  the  "spoils  system."     Such  little  differ- 
ences,  arising   from   previous   political   condition,   soon   di~.ippe.ncd.   leaving 
no  trace. 

Thoroughness  of  organization  began  with  tin-  party's  birth,  for  it  was 
the  work  ot  master  hands.  Leaders  suppressed  their  rival  ambitions  and  per- 
sonal jealousies,  and  subalterns,  such  as  local  speakers  and  editors,  were 
trained  to  concerted  action.  The  party  platform  was  simple  and  intelligible, 
and  not  liable  to  various  interpretation.  Even  the  earliesl  receipt  and  publi- 
cation  of  election  results  were  not  forgotten,  as  an  instance  may  show,  i  in 
the  night  of  election  day  in  [856  a  few  shrewdly-observing  men  at  Elkhorn 
sat  till  nearly  daylight  to  receive  returns  from  the  other  towns.  They  had 
little  or  no  help  from  telegraph  offices  al  the  few  railway  stations;  hut  mes- 
sengers rode  through  mini  and  darkness,  and  as  each  one  came  his  1, 
were  found  to  vary  so  slightly  from  pre-estimates  that  the  count)  total  dif- 
fered scarce  a  hundred  votes  from  the  forecast.  These  political  pre-calcula 
tors  had  allowed  correct!)    for  the  if  conversions  in  thi 

few  days  of  the  campaign — for  they  knew   their   men,   a-   theii    oppo 
knew   them  not  so  well. 

Instances  may  show  how  this  was  in  that  year  with  Democrats  of 
Walworth,  hopeful  as  they  were  as  to  the  electoral  result  at  large,  and  not 
inactive  or  noiseless  at  home.  Lieutenant-Governor  McArthur,  in  a  speech 
at  Elkhom  (having  been  told  that  at  the  \pril  elections  this  was  found  the 
only  stronghold  left  to  the  county  Democracy),  likened  the  town  to  a  "pearl 
on  a  black  wooly  string"     The  vol  tl  in    November  was.    11; 

Fremont,  86  for  Buchanan,  2  for  Fillmore.     In  the  -am.-  campaign  Ja 
Iladlev.    of    Milwaukee,    pre-calculating   hi 

over  John  F.  Potter,  and  fearing  only  Walworth,  ere  that  Mr. 

Potter  could  not  have  over  [.600  majority  in  I  nt)       Mr    Hadle) 


' 


TOO  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

insisted  on  allowing  2,000,  and  on  such  basis  counted  upon  election.  This 
estimate  was  here  declared  wildly  extravagant.  Election  returns  reached  Mil- 
waukee but  slowly,  hut  the  results  in  the  other  counties  of  the  district  seemed 
to  warrant  celebration  with  cannonade,  procession,  martial  music,  banquet, 
and  joy  unconfined.  The  firing  was  stopped  and  the  rest  of  the  order  of 
pleasure  suspended  indefinitely  as  soon  as  a  dispatch  from  Walworth  told 
of  -.370  majority  there  for  Potter  and  hence  of  his  election. 

In  that  year  the  ratio  of  the  Republican  to  the  Democratic  vote  in  the 
county  was  73  to  27.  For  many  years  afterward  it  remained  steadily  at 
68  to  32.  In  1908  it  was  67.93  to  32-°7-  Including  all  the  parties  in  the 
computation,  the  per  centage  of  the  total  vote  of  that  year  was  severally: 
Republican,  62.2;  Democratic,  29.4;  Prohibitionist,  7.3;  Social  Democratic, 
i.i  ;  with  two  votes  for  the  Social  Labor  ticket.  Though  the  course  of  gen- 
eral elections  has  been  so  nearly  uniform,  there  has  always  been  a  discoverable 
tendency  toward  independent  voting  in  assembly  districts,  cities  and  towns. 
Five  times  since  1855  regular  Republican  nominees  for  assemblymen  have 
been  defeated  at  the  polls.  In  1861  Hollis  Latham,  Democrat,  was  elected 
as  a  Union  candidate  over  Richard  P>.  Flack.  In  1863  John  Jeffers.  independ- 
ent-Republican, prevailed  over  AJanson  H.  Barnes.  In  1869  and  1870  Judge 
White.  Democrat,  similarly  overcame  regular  Republican  nominees.  In  1877, 
for  the  place  of  district  attorney,  Alfred  S.  Spooner  was  chosen  over  Joseph 
11.  Page,  of  Whitewater — the  only  instance  in  which,  the  whole  county  vot- 
ing, a  Republican  nominee  has  been  defeated.  Between  1855  and  1911  most 
Or  all  of  the  towns  and  cities  have  at  some  time  or  times  elected  Democratic 
members  of  the  county  board  and  other  local  officers — wherein  Walworth 
differs  little  from  such  other  American  counties  as  an-  generally  Republican. 

The  several  fluctuations,  permanent  or  transitory,  in  party  majorities  at 
presidential  and  "off-year"  elections  have  not  been  wholly  unfelt  here,  though 
the  county  vote  has  nol  always  been  noticeably  affected  bj  them.    The  Greeley 

movement    touched   local   leaders  more   than   their   party's   rank   and    file.      The 

Hayes-Tilden  campaign  seemed  to  move  the  parties  into  olden  unity,  as  is 
not  unlikely  to  occur  whenever  both  parties  have  nominated  wisely,  Vboul 
four  hundred  Republicans  changed  their  votes  in  the  third  Cleveland  contest. 
At  the  congressional  elections  of  [882,  [886  and  [890,  Republican  majorities 
were  much  reduced,  but   Stood   well  above  zero. 

Of  Foreign-born  citizens,  Scandinavians,  who  are  most  largely  from 
Norway,  have  been  almost  unanimously  Republicans.  The  Germans  and  most 
others  have  been  divided  about  proportionately  between  the  greater  parties, 
the    Republicans   taking    the    larger   number.      The    generally    current    notion 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  lol 

that  the   trish-born  arc  nearly  all  Democrats  leaves  oul  the  very   imporl 
element  of  aon  Catholic  Irish,  most  of  whom  have  Keen  and  are  Republicans. 
Since  the  Civil  war  there  has  Keen  a  perceptible  re-distribution,  politically, 
Catholic  citizens,  who  are  not  hereditary  bondmen  of  any  part)  ;  though  a  ma 
jority  of    those  of  Walworth  are  still  Democratic.     Thi  red  population 

is  a  negligible  quantity— less  than  one  hundred  in  the  county.  The  attitude 
of  Walworth  toward  their  race  was  shown  by  the  vote  in  [849  on  extension 
of  suffrage:  Yes.  970:  no,  189.  Further,  there  had  been  no  need,  for  its  bel 
ter  enforcement  here,  to  add  in  1851  new  sections  and  heavier  penalties  to 
the  older  fugitive  slave  law:  for  neither  the  old  law  nor  the  new  one  was 
likely  to  be  effective  here.  The  "underground  railway"  had  man)  stations 
and  station  agents  within  the  county  borders,  and  the  geographers  of  W 
worth  knew  the  routes  to  Canada  much  better  than  the  ways  backward  to 
hondage. 

It   was  needful    that   most    of  this   chapter   should   he   used   to   sel    forth 
the  rise,  progress  and  later  status  of  the  party  which  is  responsible  for  shap 
ing  the  county's  policies  and  administering  its  affairs.     How  U  has  done  other 
things  and  what  have  been  the  substantial  results  ma)   he  seen  ,,r  inferred 
from  the  story  of  the  county,  even  as  imperfectly  told  in  the  foregoing  and 
following  pages.     As  to  that  party's  present   status,  little  need  he  said   h( 
since  history's  concern  is  with  things  done  and  recorded,  and  not   with  things 
moved,  seconded  and  debated.     In    1895,  after   four  years  of  exclusion,  the 
Republican   party   resumed  the  administration   of   state   government.     Since 
that  time  new  definitions  of  the  party  creed  have  been  proposed  and  opposed, 
and  in  part,  at  least,  imposed  by  the  new  school  of  Republicanism.     Men  of 
Walworth  made  haste  hut  slowl)  to  change,  even  slightly,  tin-  ideas  and  usaj 
which  had  prevailed    for  a  half  century:  hut  by   1004  were  drawn  wholly  into 
the  state-wide  strife.     In  that  year's  election   while    Mr.    Roosevelt's  plur- 
ality was  3,522,  his   vote  73.4  per  cent,  of  the  count)    total,  Governor   l 
Toilette's  plurality  over  Peck  was  hut  248,  or  4  per  cent.     \t  the  same  election 
his  primary-election  hill,  which  became  the  law   of  the  state,  was  generally 
negatived  by  his  Republican  opponents,  hut  it  had  a  majority  of  the  smaller 

cast.     The  ayes  were  j.i^^:  n  . -•:  a  rati  5  i"    pi  5       \t 

the  first  application  of  this  law  to  a  choice  for  United  State-  senator  in   1910, 
Senator  LaFollette  recei  1  of  3,833   Republican  percent 

of  76.3.     The  ratio  of  voters  to  whole  population  since   i860  has  l, 
preciably  higher  for  this  county  than  for  the  state      It  is  no 
443  inhabitants,      lour  principal   cau  iroportion   oi 

a,-c  the  rable  number  of  elderly  families  without  minor  children,  the 


102  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

small  alien  population,  the  generally  easily  accessible  polling  places  and  the 
active  interest  of  men  (and  women)  of  all  parties  in  nominations  and 
elections. 

\s  a  party,  the  Whigs  left  too  little  trace  in  the  public  records  by  which 
to  distinguish  their  actions  from  those  of  other  men  of  their  time,  and  it  is 
not  now  easy  to  name  any  considerable  number  of  them  with  certainty.  As- 
suredly, they  were  not  insignificant  in  number,  and  among  them  was  their 
full  proportion  of  men  of  character  and  ability.  A  majority  of  these  men 
were  sons  and  grandsons  of  Whigs  of  the  Revolution,  and  it  was  their 
harmless  boast  that  as  a  whole  they  were  better  representatives  than  their 
opponents  of  the  higher  intelligence  and  morality  and  the  truer  patriotism 
of  the  American  people.  As  citizens  of  a  community  then  in  its  formative 
stage  they  must  have  had  their  due  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  villages 
and  towns,  school  districts,  and  religious  societies.  There  seems  to  have  been 
among  them  a  few  unavowed  Abolitionists.  More  of  them  joined  the  Free- 
Soil  Democrats  of  1848  and  1852.  Nearly  all  of  them  passed  as  if  naturally 
into  the  Republican  movement  of  1854. 

Democrats  of  the  county  were  and  are  generally  of  like  origin  with  their 
invincible  opponents,  who  have  found  them  as  to  personal  value,  if  not  as 
to  number,  not  unworthy  political  foemen.  Though  so  long  kept  from  high 
places,  they  have  not  been  without  the  weight  and  influence  of  their  personal 
qualities  on  public  business,  and  they  have  often  found  humbler  official  use- 
fulness in  their  towns.  The  chief  difference  between  them  and  their  out-« 
numbering  competitors  for  places  of  honor,  trust  and  profit  may  be  found 
by  simple  subtraction.  The  several  official  lists  include  much  of  the  active 
and  publicly  useful  clement  of  the  Republican  party.  Tt  is  not  aside  from  the 
general  purpose  of  this  work  to  name  a  few  men  of  this  greater  of  the  sev- 
eral minorities — men  of  differing  personal  qualities,  more  or  less  honored  in 
their  party  and  not  unvalued  by  their  fellow  citizens  of  all  parties.  (  )f  these 
were  Maurice  L.  Avers.  John  Brown,  Henry  B.  Clark,  David  and  Elisha 
Coon,  George  Cotton,  Harvey  M.  Curtiss,  Ebenezer  Dayton,  Francis  Dillon, 
\ndn-u  Ferguson,  <  ieorge  <  rale,  I  >r.  I  [armon  ( nay.  Perry  G.  Harrington,  Drs. 
John  M.  and  Samuel  W.  Henderson,  Augustus  C.  and  Jesse  R.  Kinne,  Mollis 
Latham,  Ebenezer  Latimer,  Darius  McKibbin,  John  II.  Martin.  John  Mather, 
Win.  I'itt  Meacham,  James  I).  Merrill,  Cyril  L.  Oatman,  Dr.  Alexander  S. 
Palmer,  George  Passage,  Soldan  Powers,  Otis  Preston.  LeGrand  Rockwell. 
1  harles  Wales,  Dr,  Henry  Warue.  \rchihald  W'oodard.  Dr.  George  II. 
Yoin 


WAI.WOK  I  II     C01    N  TV,    U  I       I  lnj 

Tlie  Prohibitionists  arc  sufficient  in  number  t"  hold  a  column  of  the 
official  ballot  for  their  nominees.  Their  influence  on  the  public  weal  is  ii"t  to  be 
measured  with  exactness  by  their  showing  at  the  polls.  There  is,  no  doubt, 
a  strength  not  always  of  measurable  political  value  in  consistent  and  unselfish 
devotion  to  high,  though  to  manj  men  seemingly  impracticable,  aims. 

The  hardly  visible  Social  Democratic  body  is  chiefly  of  two  or  three 
cities,  its  entire  vote  less  than  one  hundred. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MILITARY    HISTORY    OF    WALWORTH    COUNTY. 

The  militia  system  of  New  York  (not  to  name  other  states  similarly 
organized  for  defense  and  offense)  afforded  such  liberal  distribution  of  mar- 
tial titles  that  it  might  now  he  wondered  how  any  lawyer,  working  politician, 
inn-keeper,  or  other  reputable  and  prosperous  citizen  could  have  escaped  one 
of  these  marks  of  favor  from  the  commander-in-chief,  without  peril  of  falling 
into  or  upon  one  of  the  nearly  as  plentiful  judgeships.  The  grades  of  gen- 
eral, colonel  and  major  were  doubly  preferred,  for  there  was  this  uncertainty 
about  the  title  of  captain  that  it  was  no  more  the  right  of  a  real  centurion 
than  the  possession  of  a  master  or  ex-master  of  a  canal  boat  or  of  a  lake  vessel 
of  any  or  no  tonnage.  Captains,  majors,  colonels  and  generals  came  as  early 
as  others  to  Walworth.  Dodge's  and  Duty's  commissions  were  conclusive  as 
to  the  genuineness  of  the  fortunate  holder's  rank. 

That  there  was  a  Sixth  Regiment  of  Wisconsin  Militia,  and  that  as 
early,  at  least,  as  1S41,  is  evident  from  the  terms  of  Col.  Edward  Elderkin's 
commission.  Other  officers  now  known  were  Lieutenant-Colonel  Urban  D. 
Meacham,  Major  James  Alex.  Maxwell,  Adj't  Abel  W.  'Wright.  Capts.  Lucius 
Allen.  James  Harkness,  Perry  G.  Harrington,  Joseph  L.  Pratt. 

The  earliest  statement  in  detail  as  to  the  organization  of  territorial  militia 
found  at  the  adjutant-general's  office  shows  that  in  June.  1  S46.  men  of  Col- 
umhia.  Dane.  Dodge.  Jefferson,  Portage,  Rock,  Sauk  and  Walworth,  a  regi- 
ment fnnn  each,  were  brigaded  together,  and  in  July  the  officers  of  the  Wal- 
worth regiment   were  Col.  Caleb  Croswell  of  Delavan   (a  few  years  later  of 

Baral I.    Lieut.  Col.    Urban  D.   Meacham    (a    few    weeks  later  succeeded  by 

William  M.  (lark  I.  and  Major  Thomas  Morris  Mel  high.  Tn  August.  1846, 
the  men  of  Columbia,  Dodge,  Jefferson  and  Walworth  constituted  the  first 
Brigade  of  the  Third  Division,  commanded  respectively  by  Brig.-Gen.  John 
1     Gilman  and  Maj.-Gen.  John  \\  .  Boyd. 

lani'.uw  9,  [847,  Walworth  was  divided  into  eighl  districts,  to  each  as- 
signed a  o  impany. 

First  District— Whitewater  and  Richmond:  Capt.  Jesse  Pease;  Lieuts. 
Sil   -  Walker.  William   Potts. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1>>; 

Second  District — Elkhorn,  Lagrange,  Sugar  Creek:  Capt.  Perrj  G. 
Harrington;  Lieuts.  John  G.   Wood,  William  O.  Garfield. 

Third  District-  Troy,  Lafayette:  (  apt.  Charles  K.  Dean;  Lieuts.  Will- 
iam A.  Smith.  Charles  W.    Hillings. 

Fourth  District — Mast    Troy.  Spring  Prairie:     No  return  of  offia 

Fifth  District — Darien,  Sharon:  Capt.  Rial  \\  .  Weed,  Lieut.  David 
J.  Best. 

Sixth  District — Delavan,  Walworth:  Capt.  Hiram  Boyce;  Lieuts.  Daniel 
Dobbs,  Beardsley  Lake. 

Seventh  District — Geneva:     No  returns. 

Eighth  District — Bloomfield,  Hudson,  Linn:  Capt.  tsaac  G  Miner; 
Lieut-.  Albert  T.  Wheeler.  John  Ames. 

February  6,  1847.  of  Major-General  Boyd's  staff  were  Eleazar  Wakeley, 
division  inspector;  Experience  Estabrook,  judge  advocate;  while  Colonel 
Croswell's  adjutant  was  Jacob  M.  Fish,  and  surgeon,  Dr.  Harmon  Gra 

It  is  probable  enough  that  a  few  young  men  of  the  count)  enlisted  t'>r 
service  in  the  war  with  Mexico  in  the  regular  army,  and  thai  a  few  m 
were  enrolled  in  one  or  more  of  the  six  regiments  of  Illinois  volunteers  for 
like  service.  But  no  official  record,  except  the  inaccessible  rolls  oi  the  ad- 
jutant-general's office  at  Washington,  tells  who  these  men  were  and  how  they 
contributed  to  the  patriotic  work  of  "conquering  a  peace"  with  that  faction- 
torn  country.  A  few  men  who  returned  from  that  war  as  soldiers  of  other 
state-  came  to  live  in  Walworth. 

Throughout  the   fourteen  years  of  peace  which   followed  the  Mexii 
treaty  of  [847,  Wisconsin  was  prudently  prepared  against  insurrection  and 
invasion.     Men  of  military  age  in  each  of  the  older  counties  constituted  a 
regiment  and  thc\    of  the  newer  counties   reported  as  battalions      01 
were  commissioned  and  appear  in  reports  as  generall)  present   for  dut)    but 
the  rank  and  file  were  not   so  generally  visible.     For  an  instance,    Kdjul 
General  Utley's  report  for   [853  -hows  that  the  sixth  of    twent)  nin< 
ments  was  that   of  Walworth,  and  was  then  3,180  strong  on  paper.     The 
Sixth   Regimenl   was  then  of  the  Second    Brigade   (under   Brig  Gen     Philo 
White  of  Racine),  ■■<  the  First   Di\  hat  of  M.      1  Rufus  King  of 

Milwaukee  I,  and  it  en  companies,  from  a-  many  town--,  wen-  Iett<  1 

from    \  to  Q.     It-  field  and    staff  officers  were  Col.  Erasmus  D.  Richard 
of  Geneva ;  Lieut.-<  -1     \dam  E.  Kay.  of  Troy;  Major  Edwin  Brainard, 
Delavan:     Xdi't    Samuel    II.    Stafford,   of    Bl< 
Thayer,  of  East  Tro  on  Alexander  S.   P 

panieS]   in   ordet  mpany   letter,   with   name-   of  captains   and   enrolled 

strength  of  each,  weri  reported  ; 


io6 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Henry  B.  Clark 
John  A.  Perry 
Volney  A.  McCraken 
Richard  O'Connor 
James  Cotter 
Perry  G.  Harrington 

William  H.  Conger 


H    Spring  Prairie  Ezekiel  B.  Smith 
I      Hudson  Lathrop  Bullen 

1      Geneva  Tohn  M.  Nelson 


A 

East  Troy 

B 

Troy 

C 

Lagrange 

D 

Whitewater 

E 

Richmond 

F 

Sugar  Creek 

G 

Lafayette 

K  Delavan 

L  Darien 

M  Sharon 

N  Walworth 

O  Linn 

P  Bloomfield 

(  )  Elkhorn 


William   Pierce 
Archibald   Woodard 
E.  C.  Allen 
John  M.  Cramer 
Albert  T.  Wheeler 
Charles  W.  Sibley 
Hollis  Latham 


Lieutenants 
John  L.  Wilson,  Wm.  Vanzant     178 
Ralph  Goodrich,  Israel  Dean         188 

207 
Charles  King,  Leander  Birge  293 
Geo.  James,  Jacob  M.  Fish  138 

Wyman  Spooner,  Jr.,  Theodore 

B.  Edwards  146 

Sherman  M.  Rockwood,  Harvey 

M.  Curtiss  126 

Stephen  Bull,  Wm.  R.  Bern-  240 
Abner  Farnum,  Edw'd  Quigley  169 
Thomas    J.     Smith,    Sam'l    C. 

Spafard  256 

H.  A.  Johnson,  A.  Briggs  300 

Orange  Carter,  Henry  Clark  171 
Julius  A.  Treat,  Robert  Young  200 
Elijah   Easton,  J.   Weston  195 

Robert  Foot,  Otis  H.  Hall  135 

Henry  S.  Fox,  Charles  Allen  139 
Alva  J.  Frost,  Squire  Stanford      99 


Strength  of  regiment 


3,180 


In  i860  James  B.  Schrom,  of  Whitewater,  was  of  the  Governor's  gen- 
eral staff  as  quartermaster.  Daniel  Graham,  of  Whitewater,  and  John  F. 
Potter  were  colonels  and  aids  to  Governor  Randall.  Walworth  was  now  of 
the  Fifth  Regiment  and  Kenosha  of  the  Sixth,  the  two  forming  the  First 
Brigade  (under  Brig.-Gen.  J.  C.  McKesson,  of  Wheatland)  of  the  Second 
Division,  commanded  by  Maj.-Gen.  Daniel  C.  Tripp,  of  Whitewater.  (The 
other  brigade  was  of  Jefferson  and  eastern  Rock  counties.)  General  Tripp 
chose  his  staff  from  Whitewater,  with  two  exceptions.  All  these  officers 
ranked  as  colonels:  Frank  L.  Riser  and  Robert  Williams,  aids:  Edward 
Barber,  paymaster;  Henry  Warne,  surgeon;  Newton  S.  Murphey,  judge-advo- 
cate; William  II.  McCallum,  chief  of  engineers;  L.  R.  Humphrey,  chaplain; 
John  T.  Wentworth  (Geneva),  commissary,  ami  a  Palmyrene  as  quarter- 
master. The  field  officers  of  the  Fifth  were  Col.  Caleb  S.  Blanchard,  of  East 
Troy;  Lieut.  Col.  Charles  E.  Bird,  "i"  Linn;  Mai.  Phipps  W.  Lake,  ni  Wal- 
worth.    Two  volunteer  companies  were  attached  to  tin-  regimenl  :  "Company 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  107 

A"  (so  named),  of  Whitewater,  Capt.  Lucius  A.  \\  inchester,  and  the  Geneva 
Independents.  Capt.  Daniel  C.   Roundy.     Excepl   thai   these  two  companies 

had  each  forty  men,  no  further  return  was  made  of  the  Fifth  Regiment.  \ 
very  few  of  all  these  names  of  militia  officers  ma)  be  found  in  the  roster  of 
soldiers  of  the  Civil  war,  most  of  them  having  passed  the  age  limit.  Captain 
Wheeler,  a  young  lawyer,  was  perhaps  the  onl)  one  named  in  these  rosters 
commonly  addressed  by  his  martial  title. 

Having  given  to  Mr.  Lincoln  in  i860  a  majority  of  2,319  in  .1  total  vote 
of  5.517,  the  citizens  of  Walworth  noted  with  interest  the  quickl)  following 
events,  until  the  affair  of  Fort  Sumter  made  it  certain  that  the  I  nion  could 
be  preserved  only  by  war.  The  morning  newspapers  of  April  15.  [86l, 
brought  to  them  the  President'-  call  to  arms,  and  that  day's  drum  beating 
throughout  the  county  summoned  men  to  the  evening's  war  meetings.  Seats 
and  standing  places  at  these  assemblages  were  over  filled  and  speaker-  usually 
accounted  dull  found  willing  and  applauding  listener-.  \t  such  a  time  it  was 
easy  to  tip  even  cool,  slow  tongues  with  lire.  It  was  but  to  let  loose  the  spirit 
of  patriotism  and  of  defiance  to  foreign  and  domestic  enemies,  and  to  forgel 
such  word  as  compromise.  .Mr.  Winsor,  of  and  at  Elkhorn,  who  had  voted 
for  Douglas,  speaking  that  evening,  did  not  forget  legal  precision  of  term-  in 
the  unusually  warm  flow  of  his  indictment  of  the  nation's  enemies.  He  had 
neither  softer  nor  harsher  word  for  them  than  "rebels,"  and  thus  the)  remain 
in  history.  Other  speakers  racked  memory  and  invention  for  words  and 
phrases  likest  to  thunderbolts  and  hence  fittest  for  expression  of  patriotic 
wrath.  These  village  lawyers,  retailer-  and  farmer-  -poke  thai  which  tl 
hearers  felt,  and  to  one  clearly-seen  point,  the  preservation  of  the  I  Won  by 
national  authority. 

The  call  upon  Wisconsin  was  for  one  regiment  of  infantry  for  a 
of  three  months.     Governor   Randall   was  at  once  ofl  mpanies  enough 

to  fill  three  or  four  regiments.  There  was  nol  a  compan)  of  uniformed  and 
drilled  men  in  the  county,  but  a  few  headlong  youths  found  each  his  wa) 
to  Camp  Scott,  at  Milwaukee,  to  enlisl  in  such  compan  had  nol  reached 
its  maximum  number  of  one  hundred  and  ten  men.  The  Second  and  Third 
regiments  were  organized  b)  state  authority,  in  order  that  thi 
Washington  might  be  answered  with  partly-instn  ; 

more  boys  of  Walworth   were  enabled  to  push   their  w; 
In  lune  places  were  made  for  two  companies  nizing  the  Fourth.    Com- 

pany   \   was  of  Whitewater  and  Compan)    I    of  Gi 
tributing  to  each.     Several  of  the  men  of  thi  cre<  itei 

show,,  by  descriptive  rolls  at  Madison,  with  <  of 


108  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

April;  for  the  record  of  Wisconsin  men's  service  begins  with  their  accept- 
ance as  recruits  and  not  with  the  often  long-delayed  mustering  into  federal 
service.  The  interval  between  enlistment  and  muster  was  not  subtracted  from 
the  term  of  actual  service,  but  the  record  of  earlier  enlistment  is  honorable, 
and  the  state  made  such  provision  as  it  was  able  to  do,  for  subsistence,  clothing 
and  payment  of  its  unmustered  soldiers.  After  the  action  at  Bull  Run — in 
which  a  few  men  of  Walworth  advanced,  stood,  fired  and  left  the  field  only 
at  the  order  of  William  T.  Sherman,  their  brigade  commander,  and  at  no 
faster  pace  than  his — men  of  Delavan  and  Elkhorn  joined  to  form  Company 
A  of  the  Tenth.  About  the  same  time  Company  K,  of  the  Eighth,  at  Racine, 
was  filling  its  thin  ranks  with  stout  men  of  Bloomfield  and  Hudson.  Sharon, 
Whitewater,  Lagrange  and  Sugar  Creek  respectively  officered  and  manned 
Companies  C,  H,  I  and  K  of  the  Thirteenth.  A  few  men  of  several  towns 
enlisted  among  stranger  comrades  in  the  First  and  Second  Cavalry  Regi- 
ments. Several  of  the  boys  of  Hudson  and  Spring  Prairie  turned  out  for 
service  in  the  Ninth  Battery  of  Light  Artillery.  Of  the  Third  Cavalry,  Com- 
pany L  was  raised  from  the  county  at  large.  The  towns  not  thus  far  named 
sent  their  men  singly  and  in  squads  to  regiments  and  batteries  most  easily 
reached  at  the  instant  of  enlistment.  Except  the  few  men  in  the  First  In- 
fantry, all  these  men  of   ]80i   enlisted  for  three  years. 

Defeat  and  retreat  in  the  campaigns  on  the  Virginian  peninsula  and  the 
Rappahannock  brought  a  new  call  for  troops.  The  first  regiment  of  Wis- 
consin, under  that  call,  was  the  Twenty-second.  Company  C  was  taken  from 
the  Geneva  quarter  of  the  county,  including  also  Elkhorn,  and  Company  D 
from  Whitewater.  The  Twenty-eighth  was  but  a  few  days  behind,  its  Com- 
pany 1)  almost  wholly  of  Whitewater.  Company  E  of  Sugar  Creek  and  other 
towns,  Company  1  of  Lafayette,  Spring  Prairie  and  the  Troys,  Company  K 
less  of  this  county  and  few  of  any  one  town.  Delavan  supplied  a  colonel 
for  the  Fortieth,  a  regiment  of  one-hundred-day  men;  Delavan.  Elkhorn  and 
Walworth  gave  two  captains  and  three  lieutenants  to  Companies  F  and  I. 
The  men  of  F  were  mostly  of  Delavan,  Elkhorn,  Sharon  and  Walworth. 
Company  K.  Forty-ninth,  was  composed  of  men  of  Racine  and  Walworth 
counties.  To  this  company  Delavan  gave  a  captain  who  became  major,  and 
Geneva  gave  a  lieutenant.  The  First  (and  only)  Regiment  of  Heav\  \rtillery 
had  a  considerable  number  of  our  men.  unevenly  distributed  among  its  twelve 
companies.  The  whole  enrollment,  from  first  to  last,  was  about  -'.750 — 
slighth  more  than  the  sum  of  the  several  quotas  assigned.  Had  it  been  pos- 
sible to  levy  all  the  troops  of  the  (  i\il  war  within  one  year  the  men  of  Wal- 
\% . , it  1 1  would  have  formed  three  average  regiments,      \s  it  was.  the  circum- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  I OQ 

stances  of  the  war  made  the  company  the  largest  military  unit  in  filling  the 
county's  quotas. 

There  is  another,  and  in  some  respects  hetter  way  of  setting  forth  the 
martial  patriotism  of  Walworth.  Wisconsin  sent  out  fifty-om  regiments  of 
infantry,  four  regiments  of  cavalry,  one  regiment  of  heavy  artillery  and 
thirteen  batteries  of  light  artillery.  Men  of  Walworth  were  to  be  found 
in  all  these  except  the  Twenty-tirst  and  Forty-first  infantry  regiments,  and 
the  Second,  Eighth.  Eleventh,  and  Twelfth  light  batteries.  Besides  all  this 
service  in  home  organizations,  regiments  and  batteries  of  Illinois  and  of  the 
regular  army,  the  gun-boat  river  service,  and  the  navy  received  each  a  few 
estrays  from  the  same  source.  Walworth  men  served  in  eighteen  states  and 
territories — in  all  the  states  of  the  Confederacy  except  Florida,  in  the  border 
slave  states,  except  Delaware  and  Wesl  Virginia,  and  in  Colorado,  fnd 
Territory,  Kansas,  Minnesota  and  Pennsylvania.  Their  enlistments  began 
in  April,  i86l,  and  their  service  continued  till  May,  t866.  Distributed 
among  so  many  commands,  the  men  of  Walworth  were  parted  to  the  far 
north  and  to  the  Gulf,  to  the  eastern  sea  and  to  the  western  ridges  of  the  con- 
tinent. By  her  young  men  Walworth  followed  to  battle  nearly  every  then 
and  yet  famous  commander,  and  leaders  now  half  forgotten.  She  foil, .wed 
her  captains  until  they  became  colonels,  and  her  colonels  until  they  exchanged 
their  regiment-  for  brigades,  divisions  and  corps.  She  advanced,  attacked, 
besieged,  assaulted;  she  entrenched,  Fortified,  resisted,  retreated,  was  i 
tured,  and  knew  Libby  and  Andersonville  from  the  inside;  she  preserved 
lines  of  communication,  garrisoned  posts,  moved  after  murderous  Sioux. 
hanged  bushwhackers  in  border  states,  marched  through  sullen,  ill-wish 
Baltimore,  regulated  Xew  Orleans,  warned  awaj  the  French 
Co — and,  in  brief,  performed  nearly  every  glorious  and  inglorious  duty 
that  falls  to  the  lot  of  soldiers.  Her  men  came  home  to  resume  for  a  shorter 
or  longer  time  their  places  in  the  ranks  of  useful  citizens.  Many  of  them  went 
one  by  one  to  the  no  longer  trackless  and  boundless  west,  and  the  Grand  Army 
membership  in  the  county  whose  quotas  they  had  filled  is  largely  of  later 
coming  comrades  from    other  counties  and    stati 

Non-combatant  citizens  Lore  the  various  burdens  of  war    with    unend 
ing  patience,  and  upheld  the     war  policies   and  rith  little  nti.-r.Ml 

doubt  or  question  as  to  their  wisdom  and  necessity.      First,  there  was  the 
burden  of  the  currency  of  the  state  banks,  nominally  secured,  in  many   in- 
stances, by  dep  i  e  previously  depreciated  bonds  of  states  wind,  pa 
ordinance's  ol            sion  and  of  states  which  wen  me  time  of  doubtful 
fidelity    to  the  union  of  all  the  states.     Then  cam.-  the  call   for  their  young 


IIO  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

men  to  arms,  taking  away  the  help  needed  on  farm  and  in  shop;  and,  too  soon, 
followed  news  of  privation,  sickness  and  death.  Xext,  the  unstable  national 
war  currency,  its  value  falling  steadily  until  the  return  of  peace.  Throughout 
all  was  the  variable  fortune  of  armies  in  the  field,  when  defeat  seemed  too 
frequent  and  success  but  slowly  and  feebly  pursued.  Against  all  these  things, 
and  things  unspeakable,  men's  and  women's  souls  were  firmly  fortified  by 
their  sense  of  the  justice  of  the  national  cause,  and  they  held  themselves  in 
readiness  for  further  sacrifices.  They  subscribed  to  bounty  funds,  and  then 
voted  town  bounties  in  order  that  quotas  need  not  be  filled  by  conscription. 
In  fact,  the  district  provost-marshal's  wheel  turned  but  seldom  to  make  even 
among  the  towns  the  burden  of  personal  service  in  the  field. 

The  women  who  met  formally  and  informally  as  sanitarv  aid  so- 
cieties, and  as  individuals,  took  upon  themselves  some  duty  toward  the  sick 
and  wounded  at  field  and  post  hospitals,  made  no  record  of  their  timely  and 
most  welcome  services.  But  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  state  will  soon  publish 
whatever  the  uncertain  memory  of  survivors  of  that  period  of  storm  and 
stress  may  recall  of  the  good  done  by  patriotic  women  of  Wisconsin,  with 
some  note  of  the  doers.  Should  this  be  done,  the  women  of  Walworth  will 
have  a  place  in  the  tardy  memorial.  One  name,  at  least,  is  not  forgotten 
here,  that  of  Mrs.  Mary  Elizabeth  (Chesebro)  Lee,  then  of  Sugar  Creek,  a 
daughter  of  Ebenezer  Chesebro  and  Anna  Griswold,  wife  of  Nelson  Lee, 
and  mother  of  one  of  the  earlier  superintendents  of  schools,  Elon  Nelson 
Lee.  She  took  her  active  part  in  organizing  aid  at  home,  and  then  went 
in  person  to  the  wounded  and  sick  in  field  hospitals  and  in  the  general  hos- 
pital at  Louisville.  What  she  did  can  not  be  told  as  yet  with  approach  to 
fulness  and  accuracy,  but  her  matronly  care  and  skill,  so  unselfishly  and 
noiselesslv  given  in  that  soul-trying  time,  are  yet  well  and  gratefully  re- 
membered. 

Tlie  father-,  and  mothers  bad  thought  and  talked  much  of  the  happier 
time  when  the  boys  should  come  home  and  take  again  their  old*  places  on 
the  farm  and  in  the  village  shop.  "Alas!  our  dreams,  they  come  not  true." 
The  boys  had  grown  to  manhood  and  maturer  minds  amid  the  quickening  im- 
pulses of  that  history-making  period,  had  seen  men  and  cities,  and  "glorious 
old  Walworth"  was  no  longer  all  the  world  to  them.  They  came  home,  but 
for  many  of  them,  only  to  go  out  again.  In  the  spring  of  1865  men  were 
already  eager  to  find,  each  citizen  and  returning  soldier,  his  own  place  in  the 
activities  of  business,  so  long  suspended  or  maimed  by  panic  ami  war.  now 
SO  hopefully  planned  and  resolutely  pushed:  and  this  before  the  last  dirtv- 
blue  regimenl  had  slouched  at   the  easy  gait  of  veterans  through  the  streets 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  Ill 

of  cities,  from  one  terminal  station  to  another,  on  its  waj  to  camp  of  muster- 
ing out  and  final  payment.  The  service-worn  followers  of  Granl  and  In- 
great  lieutenants  were  fast  merging  themselves  in  the  "ugly  rush"  of  cities 
as  better-paid  mechanics,  accountants,  students  at  short-course  business 
schools,  or  servants  of  railway  companies — all  hopeful  of  rapid  promotion, 
and  little  minded  to  drop  into  the  old  obscurities  and  low-paid  drudgerii 
farm  and  village  life,  "where  nothing  happens."  \  few  enthusiastic  patriots, 
men  and  women,  urged  subscriptions  to  raise  local  monuments  t>>  the  hi 
dead,  but  were  not  always  nor  often  successful.  It  was  not  yet  time  for  mon- 
ument building — certainly  not  for  a  county  monument. 

In  course  of  time  Grand  Army  posts  were  instituted,  but  at  first  and 
quite  naturally  and  therefore  rightly  their  efforts  and  influence  were  dit 
to  the  equalization  of  the  unevenly  distributed  service  bounties  and  to  promo- 
tion of  more  adequate  pension  rates  with  more  liberal  bureau  ruling-.  In  a 
few  more  years  the  steadily  dwindling  post  membership  suggested  a  county 
comradeship  which  might  include  the  few  men  who  were  not  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic.  Occasionally  reunion-  of  men  of  Walworth  and  Wau- 
kesha counties  of  the  Twenty-eighth  and  somewhat  more  general  meetings 
at  the  Lauderdale  lakes  and  at  Whitewater  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Wal- 
worth County  Soldier  and  Sailors  Association  in  r88o.  It-  membership  i-  in- 
expensive and  its  proceedings  but  little  burdened  with  formalism.  It-  yearly 
meeting,  held  late  in  August,  on  grassy  parks  and  under  friendly  tree-,  brings 
together  soldiers  and  citizens  in  hundreds  to  "  make  a  day  of  it"-  and  a  long 
evening  as  well.  No  greal  time  is  wanted  for  election  of  officers  am 
of  other  less  pressing  business;  and  soon  after  dinner  the  bugler  rail-  hand 
and  singers,,  speakers  and  hearers  to  a  feast  of  ex<  ellent  music  and  an  abund 
ant  flow  of  oratory,  declamation,  and  plain  -peaking — all  received  in  best  of 
humor  by  the  large,  sympathetic  and  unexacting  audiei 

Among  earlv  organizers  and  builders  of  the  Association,  now  not  living. 
were  Col.  Edmund  B.  Gray,  an  honorary  member,  a  full-minded  and  ready 
talker  who  never  uttered  nonsense  nor  was  ever  dull:  Edwin  D.  •  !oe,  whom  it 
was  very  pleasant  and  good  for  comrades  and  decent  citizens  to  know; 
George  W.   Wylie,   different    from   tin    e  >wn   way  most    useful. 

Men  who  had    helped  I-  mal  e  larger  history  than  that  of  counties  earn. 
Lieut-Gen.  Henry  C.  Corbin.  while  yet  at  tin-  head  of  the  regular  army 
Henry  Harnden.  the  captor  of  Jefferson  Davis;  Gen.  Lucius  Fairchild,  of  the 
immortal  Iron  Brigade.     National  and  state    comm  f  the  Grand   Army 

are  always  invited  air!  i  lorn  come.  Of  1 

speakers  have  been  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Fallows,  brigadier 


112  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN". 

general,  Forty-ninth  Wisconsin  Infantry,  United  States  Senator  Joseph  V. 
Qnarles,  ex-Governors  William  D.  Hoard  and  William  II.  Upham,  Hon. 
Alexander  E.  Matheson,  of  Janesville,  and  Jay  W.  Page,  of  Elkhorn  I  natives 
of  the  county  ).  The  altar,  the  pulpit  and  the  bar  of  the  county  have  not  been 
called  upon  in  vain    to  lend  interest  to  this  county  holiday. 

soldiers'  memorial  roll. 

In  1907  the  board  of  supervisors  appointed  a  committee  of  three  of  its 
members  with  two  soldiers  to  consider  and  report  a  plan  for  making  a  roster 
of  all  the  county's  men  in  service  in  the  Civil  war,  to  be  cast  in  bronze  and 
placed  on  an  inner  wall  of  the  county-court  building.  This  committee  was: 
Capt.  Theodore  A.  Fellows,  Genoa  Junction ;  R.  Bruce  Arnold.  Lake  Geneva ; 
George  Renner,  Sugar  Creek ;  Leonard  C.  Church.  Walworth ;  John  G.  Mead- 
ows, Lyons;  Henry  D.  Barnes,  secretary.  In  1908  the  committee's  plan  of 
bronze  plates  and  a  record  book  was  adopted  and  eighteen  hundred  dollars 
was  appropriated.  The  committee  appointed  two  compilers  of  the  proposed 
roll,  with  directions  to  go  to  Madison  and  Washington,  if  needful,  and  exam- 
ine adjutant-general's  records.  In  1909  a  third  board  of  supervisors  chose 
from  samples  of  bronze  work  and  appropriated  one  thousand  two  hundred 
dollars  more  for  a  worthier  design  than  the  one  at  first  considered.  Early  in 
1910  plates  containing  the  names  of  2.743  men  were  secured  to  the  walls  of  the 
room  previously  set  apart  for  the  use  of  Grand  Army  posts.  Provision  is 
made  for  the  few  names  not  yet  found  and  verified.  The  session  of  1910  added 
three  hundred  dollars  to  the  sums  already  appropriated,  for  the  purpose  of 
completing  the  type-written  descriptive  rolls.  It  is  noteworthy  as  indicating 
the  sympathy  of  the  board  and  it-  constituents  with  the  wishes  bf  living  sol- 
diers that  these  several  measures  passed  without  opposition. 

This  roster,  now  more  nearly  complete  and  more  nearly  error-tree,  and 
more  accessible  than  ever  he  fore,  was  compiled  forty-three  years  after  the 
end  of  the  war,  when  lew  men  were  living  and  fewer  were  within  inquirer's 
reach  who  could  correcl  some  of  the  errors  and  explain  some  of  the  seeming 
anomalies  of  the  fifty-eight  large  volumes  of  descriptive  rolls  of  Wisconsin 
soldiers.  These  volumes,  written  by  as  many  hands,  were  compiled  from  regi- 
mental returns  and  from  the  bi-monthly  musters  of  companies.  These  were 
often  defective  and  sometimes  wanting.  Clerical  errors  are  to  he  found. 
though  corrections,  when  authenticated,  are  entered  (in  red  ink).  The  col- 
umns for  town  and  county  of  each  soldier's  residence  and  for  the  town 
and      county      credited      with      his      services      are,      many      of      them,      par- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


113 


tially  or  wholly  blank,  and  even  when  the  name  of  the  town  is  shown,  thai  of 
the  county  is  often  wanting.  The  names  of  Bloomfield,  Genoa,  Hone)  (reek. 
Hudson,  Lafayette,  Linn.  Richmond,  Sharon,  Springfield,  Sugar  (reek  and 
Troy,  all  then  and  all  but  one  now  on  the  map  of  Walworth,  are  repealed  one 
or  more  times  in  other  counties  of  \\  isconsin.  St.  Croix  count)  has  four  ol 
these  names,  and  there  are  four  Springfields  in  the  state.     Th  rolls 

of  the  county  for  [860  determined  some  of  these  uncertainties;  and  the  enroll- 
ments of  1862,  made  by  the  several  sheriffs,  of  citizens  subjeel  to  military 
service — now  a  part  of  the  State  I  [istorical  Society's  collection  of  manuscripts 
— might  have  helped  further  had  all  these  returns  keen  preserved.  The  in- 
valuable records  of  the  adjutant-general's  office  at  Madison  are  now  securely 
stored  in  the  east  wing  of  the  new  statehouse. 

The  form  chosen  for  the  Following  soldier  list,  that  by  regiments,  seems 
most  convenient  for  this  work.  A    satisfactory  list  by  towns  is  impossibl 
the  county  svstem  of  the  last  two  years  of  the  war  often  drew    men  ol 
town  into  service   for  another  town,  within  or  without   the  county,  win 
each  new  call  for  troops  offered  highest  premium.  Names  of  men  who  served 
in  more  than  one  command  are  repeated  for  each  such  re-enlistment.  <  rfficers 
are  given  their  highest  rank.  It  should  be  noted  that  officers,  on  their  promo 
tion,  were  sometimes  transferred  to  another  company  in  the  same  or  an 
regiment.     Names  marked  with  an  asterisk  1  ::  1  are  of  men  who  died  in  sen  - 
ice.  Two  asterisks  mirk  names  of  men  killed  or  mortally  wounded  in  action: 

FIRST   CAVALRY. 


I    ... 

Amann,  Frederick 11 

Babcock.  Henry  II K 

Bradley,  Ole  J K 

Burke,  Thomas  E — 

Cansdell.  Henry  W.,  Ass'1  Surgeon 

( assoboin,    William    L 

Conant,  John  A B 

Coon,  Alonzo  B B 

Deacon,  John  R 

Dewev.  Washington II 

Doneburg,  John  . I 

♦Downey,  John  W I 

I  )i  i)  le,  [1  iseph B 


Eddy,  Uriel  C K 

Rowers,  I  )avid  S B 

I  1  «ter,  *  harles  R . F 

Fox,  ( leorge  1 1.,  chaplain. 

Foy ,  Thomas 

( ribbons,  Michael II 

1  Ireiber,  Herman  J I' 

1  irossman,  William    I 

I  [allenbeck,  Edwin  II B 

I  [amilton,  Jesse  B  .  \ 

I  [anchett,  Alanson K 

Hicks.  Edwin  R                 .  B 

5,  William   II  .  . 
Keve  I 


ii4 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Mahan,  Edward — 

Martin,  John K 

Marvin,  Ferdinand ■ — 

Medbery,  John  W B 

*Moores,  Edward  P A 

Mosher,  Joseph  E.,  2d  Lt G 

Myers,  Henry  A H 

Odell,  Andrew  J C 

Parkhurst,  James T 

Pengilly,  Alexander D 

Pickett,  Samuel  H M 

Piatt,  Otis M 

Randolph,  William  H B 

Rann,  Lallemand  H.,  Batt'n   Quar- 
termaster: 


Robbins,  Eber F 

*Rollo,  Frederick  C B 

Simmons,  James A 

Smith,  James A 

Spencer,  Levi M 

Stilson,  James \ 

Sullivan,  Dennis I 

Thayer,  Hollister  B B 

Traver,  Eugene F 

Truax,  John  H F 

**Truesdell,  Philander K 

Webber,  Herbert F 

Welch,  Richard  H H 

*Wendt,  Frederick A 

Wright,  George  H B 


SECOND    CAVALRY. 


*Allen,  Jacob  H K 

Anderson,  Stewart K 

Armstrong,  Henry L 

Armstrong,  Howard K 

Barnard,  Luther  A E 

Barnes,  Herbert K 

Bellows,  George  H K 

Barnett,  David  A.,  1st  Lieut.   ..  K 

Berry,  Robert K 

Bowen,  George  W K 

Bradt.  ( ieorge  A K 

Breed,  Shubael   II K 

*Breed,  William K 

Bristol,  Lucius  F K 

Brown.  James  I K 

Cameron.  Thomas K 

Campbell,  Alexander  J K 

"!*Carter,  Legrand K 

( 'alter,  Lewis K 

1  lark,  Elijah   K 

I  lark,  Harry  D K 


Clark,  Oscar  F K 

Clowes,  Charles K 

Corbin,  Alfred K 

Crocker,  Benjamin  F.,  Capt K 

Cunningham.  William  P K 

Cutler,  William K 

Davidson,  George  B.,  Capt K 

Davidson,  William K 

Dodge.  Levant K 

Doolittle,  Wayne  C K 

Dyke.  William  H K 

Eckert.  Charles K 

Ellsworth,  George  D K 

Enps,  Emilius   K 

Fisher,  Elias  W K 

Fleming,  David K 

Franklin,  Joel    K 

Gaft'ey,  Thomas H 

Gibson,  I  reorge  W D 

Gilbert,  Louis   \ j<; 

I  loff,  Milton   \ K 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


US 


Greenman.  James    K 

Greenman,  Lorenzo K 

Groshong.  John  B \ 

Hall.  John    G 

Hammond.  George  W K 

Hare,  Stephen K 

Hauck.  David I . 

Hawver,  Dewey  F K 

Hillman.  Arthur  C K 

Hillman,  Edwin  E K 

Hillman.  William  W K 

*Hines.  Thomas   K 

*Hoel.  Jacob  J M 

Holden,  Silas  Rockwell E 

Hollister.  William K 

*Ho\ve.  Charles  M K 

Hunt.  William  .  .  .  .• K 

Huntress,  Merritt K 

Hutchins.  Fred  W.,  Ca|)t K 

Hutchins.  Oliver  C K 

Hutchinson.  Daniel  F K 

Jones.  Walter  S K 

Joy,  Fernando  D K 

Judge.  Charles K 

Kavanangh,  William K 

Kelsey,  Charles K 

Kelsey,  James K 

Lacy,  John  T K 

Lake,  Philip  W K 

Lawless,  Th  >mas    K 

Lippitt,  Hezekiah    K 

Lloyd,  Thomas  Jr K 

Loucks.  George  W K 

McManigle,  Ira  L K 

McMillen,  Dennis  T K 

*Mllls,  Henry K 

Mohr,  Albert K 

Nelson,  Andrew K 


Nichols,  Daniel  M K 

Odell,  John  A K 

<  'Km  m.  Andrew K 

Onderdi  >nk,  ( lharles   K 

(  Kvens,  John  II...-. K 

Payne,  Andrew  J K 

Peck,    Peter    P.,    isl    Lieut K 

Pounder.  (  in  irge  II K 

*  I  '"under.  JameS  F K 

Pramer.  Walter K 

(  hiinn.  James  K K 

Read,  Jeremiah K 

Reynolds,  Philip  T K 

Riley,  John  P K 

Rogei  s,  I  a'mbert  J K 

Roundy,  Porter  M..  2d  Lieut  .  .  .  .  K 

Sage,  (  hauneev K 

Seaman,  \lK-n  (1 K" 

Seaman,  David  B K 

Seaver.  Rodney K 

Seaver,  William.  Q.  M.  Sergt. 

Severson,  Benjamin K 

Shaw.  George  D K 

Shea.  William K 

Sirrett,  Ebenezer  I I ) 

Sizer,  Melvin  K K 

Smith.  Francis K 

♦Smith,  Diner  M K 

'Smith.    I  i                  K 

Smith,  Washington K 

Smith.  \\  illiain K 

Smothi       Olwin K 

Starin,  <  (range  C  .         K 

Steel,  1  hi  -tan K 

1 1.,  i-t  Lieut K 

IF            K 

W K 

'                K 


n6 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Strasser,  Conrad K 

Sweet,  Eugene  B K 

Taggart,  Leonard  W K 

Thompson,  Richard K 

Tremper,  Edgar K 

Trimble,  Benjamin  F K 

Vanderhoof,  John  M.,  2d  Lieut.  K 

Van  Valkenburg,  Myron K 

Waite,  Orange  R K 


Wasmuth,  Charles K 

Waterhouse,  Hugh K 

Watson,  Merritt K 

Weaver,  Silas  Enslow K 

Welch,  George  S K 

Whitney,  Samuel  H C 

Williams,  Edson,  1st  Lieut  .  .  .  .  K 

Williams,  John  R K 

Wright.  Spencer K 


THIRD    CAVALRY. 


*Armstrong,  Robert 

Austin,  Hiram 

**Bartram,  David  D 

Battisfore,  Augustus  J 

*Bemis,  Elijah  M 

Bliss,  Andrew  J 

Brandon.  John 

Brandt,  Julius  E 

Brandy,  James 

Carver,  Aaron 

*Case,  William  H 

*Cass,  Clarence  W 

Cass,  Martin 

Chapman,  William 

Church,  Leonard  C 

( '<  ilburn,  Paul 

Crane.   ( Jeorge  J 

Crego,  James  P 

(rites.  John,  1st  Lieut 

Curtis,  Myron  G 

Darrow,  '  leorge  W 

i  >cw  ing,   Nelson   I  h  iratio 

I  )n\\ ,  I  ,orenzo 

Drake,  Brew  ster  B 

I  luffy,  James 

101  wards,  I. Mien  J.,  Com.  Serg't. 
T'arr.    \sa  W.,  Or.  Master 


E  Garfield,  Eli  William L 

L  Garfield,  Oscar L 

L  Garfield,  William  M L 

G  Gilbert,  Curtis  E L 

G  Gilbert,  Nelson  B L 

L  Gleason,  Herbert  J.,  Hosp.  Steward 

G  Goodsell,  Harry,    1st  Lieut G 

D  Hale,  Joel G 

G  Hall,  Samuel  C L 

D  Hardy,  Michael G 

G  Hart,   Ithamar  W L 

E  **Hooper,  Daniel  M L 

G  Hoskings.  William D 

A  Howard,  Patrick H 

L  Ingalls,  Ludden  B L 

D  Jackson,  Levi L 

D  Jackson,  Stedman  L L 

D  King.  Albert  D E 

D  Kizer,  Fernando  Cortez,  Capt.   .  .  D 

A  Kling,  George  H D 

L  *Lavin,  Thomas    L 

L  Lavin,  William L 

C  Lawless,  Lawrence L 

I .  I  .cn>v,  I  [enry  T G 

I.  Lippitt,  John  W L 

1 .1  iwe,  Amasa D 

1.  1  .umsden,  h  ihn  T 1 . 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


ii: 


McGivern,  Patrick 1 

Marsh,  David  O G 

Marsh,  Eugene  T L 

Mohr,  Matthias G 

Morse,  Lyman L 

Nolan,  James H 

O'Hara,  Edward G 

O'Hara,  Michael G 

Parker,  James  M ( '• 

Parker.  Norman ( ! 

*Parmelee,  Edwin  A L 

Perkins,  Edwin  G L 

*Perkins,  Oscar  \Y L 

Pern-,  Charles  A.,  Capt L 

Puffer,  Samuel  J 11 

Regan.  Daniel  P D 

Reynolds,  Benoni  Orrin,  Surgeon. 
Rogers.  Harold  H.  Serg't  Maj. 

Rogers,  Herschel  P G 

Rogers,  Mortimer  F G 

Royce,   Henry  L D 

Russell.  Elias  B I 

Russell,  Thomas  T I 

Scott.  Calvin  L D 

Scoville,  James  K II 

Shahino.  Henry D 

Sheffield.  Daniel  J 1 1 

Shugart,  Albert M 


Sncll,  Walter  II G 

Snyder,  Joseph G 

Siren.  William B 

Stone.  Lafayette D 

Stoodley,  William  E L 

Storms.  Francis D 

Stratton,  William  J L 

Thomas,  <  leorge  N <  i 

Thomas.  Josiah G 

Thompson,  Dewitl  C G 

Titus,  Otis I ) 

Traub,  Adam   I . 

Tyler.  Rollin G 

Van   Bogart,  Tip   (  I  larrison)  .  . 

Van  I  Ionic,  Charles  I <  i 

Van  Moorsell,  Martin I  > 

Van  Valkenburg,  Jacob <  . 

Weir,  Ji  ihn I . 

Weldon,  Michael   G 

West.  William L 

*Whitmore,  Rue! L 

Wilbers,  Herman M 

*Wilcox,  Byron  1 1. 

*Wilson,  David G 

Winer.  John D 

Wiswell,  Charles  Edward L 

Wiswell.  Henry  C L 

Wolfendon,  Joseph  T I 


FOURTH    INFANTRY-CAVALRY. 


♦Adams,  James  II \      Beebe,  Emery  I F 

Allen.  Orlando  0 \     Bingham,  Newcomb 

Ambler.  Henry  C F 

Aylward,   Richard F 

Barry,  Melville  A F 

*Beardsley,  Horace   Gardner.  ...  F 

Beckhard.  Amos  H \ 

Becklev,  Homer  Meader A 


*Blake,  Joseph 

Blanchard,  Lorison  G F 

Blodgett,  Rollin F 

Honker,  [saac A 

Boswell,  Marshall  E \ 

Bowers,  Nicholas  George F 


n8 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Branch,  Charles  L A 

Brewer,  Wilbur  N A 

Brice,  John  P F 

Bridge.  John  W.,  Hosp.  Steward. 

Briggs,  George  Gaskill G 

Britton,  John F 

Brown,  George     H.,   1st  Lieut.  .  F 

Brown,  Joseph  F A 

Browning,  Lorenzo F 

Buck,  Jerome  H A 

*Bull,  Charles  Henry F 

Burdick,  Albert F 

Burdick,  Asbury F 

Burdick,  Charles  H F 

Burnham,  John A 

Burt,  Roswell F 

Burton,  Nathan F 

Bush,  John  H F 

Cadman,  Charles A 

*Carmichael,  Richard  D F 

Carroll,  Patrick F 

Castle,  Lewis A 

Castle,  Philo  A.,  ist  Lieut A 

Chaffee,  Alfred  E.,  ist  Lieut.  ...  A 

Chamberlain,  Joseph  A A 

*Chappell,  Turner  C F 

Church,  George  W F 

Clark,  Luther F 

Cleary,  Martin H 

Coffee.  Christopher  C,  ist  Lieut.  F 

Conklin,  James  G F 

Craigue,  Nelson  F.,  Colonel. 
Creiger,  Tehiel,  Sergt.  Major. 

Cronk,  Reuben  R \ 

Curtice,  I  iharles  !•'..,  Capt F 

Dake.  Henry  M K 

Dake,  Martin  II K 

Dake,  William  If K 


Darling,  Van  Rensselaer F 

David,  Louis  W F 

Davidson,  Ebenezer F 

Davidson,  Hugh  R F 

Dewing,   Manville   Henry A 

Dewing,  Norman  Houston  ....   A 

Dick,  Charles  W K 

Dikeman,  John  W F 

Dodge,  Sidney  W F 

Dodge,  William  H F 

Drinkwine,  Commodore  P F 

Duffy,  Thomas A 

Dunbar,  Oscar A 

Duncombe,  Moses A 

Durkee,  Harris  R.,  ist  Lieut.  .  .  .    F 

Eaton,  Oliver  K A 

Ennis,  James A 

Farnsworth,  William  R  ......  .    A 

**Farnum,  Ezra  C F 

Farrar,  George  Henry F 

Felch,  Chester  E.  W A 

Felch,  John  E A 

Ferguson,  Samuel  D A 

Finch,  Gilbert  B..  ist  Lieut A 

Fish,  Stephen  L A 

Fitzgerald,  Michael F 

Fowler,  John  E H 

Freeler,  Jacob    A 

Gibbs,  James  L F 

Gill,  Thomas  J A 

Goodenough.  Walter \ 

Goodwin,  Gilman  ( '• F 

Gray,  James  L D 

( iray,  Robert  Bruce F 

Green,  Charles  A \ 

*Green,  Horace  D.,  Hosp.  Steward. 

<  '.undersoil,  John \ 

Hamilton,  Frederick  B A 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


119 


Handy,  Thomas  J F 

Harrington,  John  W A 

Harris,  Chester  C E 

Hart,  Patrick F 

Haskell,  Jeremiah F 

Haswell,  William  S F 

Heller,  Jacob A 

Henderson,  Edward F 

*Herrick,  William  Lafayette  .  .  .  F 

*Holden,  George A 

Hopkins,  Ephraim F 

Hotchkiss,  John F 

Howard,  John  C D 

Hulburt,  D.  William,  Com.  Serg't. 

Humphrey,  Jerome  B A 

Jacobs,  Abraham  C F 

Jacobs,  Daniel F 

Jerome.  Albert  A F 

Johns,  Charles  A.,  1st  Lieut F 

Johnson,  Allen  S F 

Johnson.  Nelson \ 

Keith,  Franklin \ 

**Kenyon,  Clark  M A 

Keyes,  Stewart  W F 

King,  Walter  M A 

Kittelson,  Austin A 

Kizer,  Frank  L \ 

Klock,  Marcus  R F 

Kribs.  Charles \ 

Lawrence,  Henry E 

Leach,  Jonathan  F 

♦Lewis,  Charles  II \ 

♦Lovejoy,  Calvin  S \ 

*Luce,  Joseph  S F 

Ludman,  Frederick  W \ 

*Ludman,  William  T \ 

Lull,  Noyes F 

*McBride,  Allen  B F 


Mc(  iraWj  Edgar  S F 

McManus,  Josiah  C F 

McNeal,  Charles    II F 

Magill,  Henry  II F 

♦Marshall,  ( leorge  F I 

Matthews,  James F 

Matthews,  William  Henry F 

**Maxon,  1  Janiel  B.,  ist  Lieut .  .  F 

Mead.  Isaac  X.,  1st  Lieut F 

A I  m|'i  at  t,  William  11 \ 

Mood) .  Edward  L \ 

M01  idy,  Reuben  T \ 

Mi  irfc  m,  Marcus  W \ 

Mulligan,   Samuel    (twice)  .  .  . .  A  F 

Murphy,  John \ 

XetT.  Henry   X F 

Xewcomb,  Joseph F 

Nichols,  Daniel  W F 

Nilsson,  Nils \ 

Xyce,  Hiram  S \ 

Oleson,  Ole  B \ 

Parker,  George  E F 

**Parks,   William    F 

♦Patterson,  Ashbel \ 

Payne,  Aaron F 

Peck,  George  Wilbur,  _'d  Lieut..  E 

Perry,  (  iharles \ 

I  'err) .  I  [enry \ 

Phillips,  ( ieorge  II \ 

Phillips,  Jacob \ 

Pixley,  I  tolphus  E.,  ts(  Lieul  .  .  .  E 

Powell,  .Charles  C I 

Pramer,  Levi I 

I  'reed) .  Stephen \ 

Proctor,  I  >a\  id    \ \ 

Puffer.    ( Ihenery    F 

'utnam,  I  [enry I 

Ralston,  William  H I 


120 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


*Ranney,  Moses A 

Reese.  Sylvester \ 

Ripley,  Jacob F 

Robinson,  Franklin A 

Ross,  Washington F 

Roundy,  Daniel  C,  Capt F 

Rouse,  Timothy F 

Rowe,  John A 

So  >tt.  James    A 

Seeley,    Milo    F 

Shaver.  James  H F 

*Sherman,  Alfred F 

Sherman,  Charles F 

Sherman,  Horace F 

Simmons,  Charles  F B 

Simmons,  David  E A 

Smith,  Clark  H F 

*Smith,  John F 

*Smith,  Levi F 

Smith,   Sidney    \ 

Snow,  Harvey  L F 

*Squires,  John  H F 

Stearns,  human  G F 

Steele,  Charles  W A 

Stevens,  Edward  J E 

Storms,  William  If F 

Sw  in,    Ira    A 

Sw  in,  [eri  une \ 


**Tabor,  William  M V 

Trumbull,  Fitzjames   F 

**Tuohey,  Patrick F 

Tupper,  Alvaro  W F 

Tupper,  Jerome  B F 

**Tupper,  Joseph  P F 

Turner,  George A 

Utter,  Cyrus  D F 

Van  Norman,  Charles  R F 

*Viles,  Gustavus  Granville F 

*Vodre,  Charles A 

Waffle,  Leander F 


'Walker,  Geo 


W. 


F 

Weatherwax,  Andrew  J..jd  Lieut.  F 

Weatherwax,  Monroe  J F 

Webb,  Major  P A 

Weeks,  Martin  W F 

Weeks,  Theodore F 

Welsh,    Hiram   J ■ A 

Wenham,  William  11 V 

Whalen,  Patrick F 

Whelan,  Joseph  P A 

White,  Nelson  W F 

Wills.  .11.  Ole    \ 

Wilson,  Asad F 

Wire.  Gideon  J A 

Wood.   John F 


FIRST    HEAVY   ARTILLERY, 


\nyaii.   William B 

Baker,  Benjamin  R II 

Hear,  Isaac K 

Beckwith,  Edward  Seymour  ...  A 

I  >eeden,  Ji  ihn E 

I'.li^s,  |  )aniel F 

Bowers,  Nicholas  George B 

I  Irainerd,  Francis  E E 


Brown,  James E 

Brow  lie  James  Edwin C 

Mullen,  Robert G 

Butler,  Sidnej     \ B 

Carle.  Jonas  H B 

( ihristmas,  John B 

( ^olberg,  (  harles K 

Cole,  fudson  E B 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


121 


Coulthard.  James  A \ 

Cox,  William E 

Crites,  Alexander L 

Crites,  George L 

Cross.  George L 

Demroe,  John L 

Drake,  Charles  P E 

Dntcher.  Samuel — 

Eggert,  Charles II 

Eldredge.  Charles  T A I 

Falmer,  Wallace  W L 

Farr,  George    L 

Finch.  George E 

Finch,  Solomon  J E 

Fisher,  Augustus  C E 

Fisher,  John E 

Fowler,  Benjamin  F L 

Fuller,  James  E AT 

Garrett,  Andrew  J,  ist  Lieut.  ...    A 

Caskill.  Joseph B 

Gilbert,  Don  A \ 

Goff,  Sidney  Calkins E 

Haywood,  Charles \ 

Henderson.  John  Hicks B 

Herron,  John  \Y K 

Hess,  Nicholas E 

Hickox,  Hervey  West    B 

Hill.  Amasa  P E 

Hill.  Elhridge F 

Hill.  William  H.  Com.  Sergt. 

Hopkins.  Daniel  C 1- 

Howard.   Wilder  M E 

Hubbard,  John  W B 

Huntress.  James  K.  P B 

Huntress.  Samuel  Doctor I'. 

Johnson,  John E 

Karbetski,  August   L 

Keeley,  James L 

Kelley,  fohn E 


Kenyon,  William L 

Know  Iton,  I  >a\  id  E E 

ECrokofsky,  Frederick L 

Langham,   Edward   \ 

Lew  i^,  James C 

Lewis,  Mark  A C 

Lingenfelter,   Daniel    F 

Mead.  Isaac  \\ G 

Medbery,  ( ieorge  W E 

Motherway,  John E 

Moult'  m,  Stillman F 

Olds,  John  J I 

Oleson.  Lars L 

O'Neil,  William L 

Parker,  Ji  iseph  F K 

Perry,  John  Adams C 

Pier,  Michael E 

Ouinn,  Thomas I . 

Ray,  Patrick  Henry,  Captain.  ...  I 

Sales,  William  M B 

Sanhi  tii,  1  loratio  1! E 

Sands.  Peter F 

Scott.  Marion  I : .  A 

Sewell,  <  ieorge  E C 

*Shearman,  I  Eenry  S B 

Sin  >rt.  Ji  ihn \ 

Smith.  Edwin  R \ 

Smith.  William  R I 

Starkey,  Thomas K 

Stevens,  Evarts  C B 

Steven-.  Martin  E.,  tsl  Lieul  ....  G 

Stewart,  <  'harles I 

Stone,  ( ieorge  W \ 

Swift,  John II 

I    >ft,  Alfred \ 

Utter,  I >■■  ight B 

Van  [saac L 

ph I 

Wagenknecht,  Charles D 


122 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Warner,   Samuel   P B 

Welch,  Sidney H 

Wells,  William  S E 

Wheelock,  Norman E 

Whitney,  Throop  B B 


Willis,  Anson  C A 

Wilson,  Samuel  J L 

Winsor,  Curtis     H B 

Wood,  Edgar  A C 

Wroe,  Thomas  J.,  Com.  Sergt. 


Williams,  John E     Yost,  William 


B 


LIGHT   ARTILLERY FIRST  AND  THIRD  BATTERIES. 


Cansdell,  Henry,  Surgeon. 


FOURTH    BATTERY. 


Ellison,  Wesley. 
Groesbeck,  Gilbert. 


Loucks,  Andrew  M. 
Maxwell.  James. 


Snow,  Orrin  D. 


FIFTH  BATTERY. 


SIXTH  BATTERY. 


Fernald,   Clarence  D. 


Miller,  Clarkson,  Surgeon. 


SEVENTH    BATTERY. 


Berges,  Henry  P. 
Brown,  Joseph  F. 
Criger,  William. 
Evans,  Jesse  G. 


Graham,  James. 
Hutton,  Jonathan  B. 
Wilbur,    John  F. 


NINTH    BATTERY. 


Ashley,    Henry. 
Bemis,  Lyman  A. 
Borst,  John. 
Brown,  Theodore. 
Brownlee,  John. 
Cole,  Leander. 
Cox,  Daniel. 


Crawford,  John  H. 
Derby,  Eugene  W. 
I  )euel,  Joseph  B. 
Fielder,  Henry. 
Fisk,  Clinton  O. 
Flagerman,  1  [enry. 
Fowler,  ( ieorge  \V. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


'-\$ 


Fowler,  John 
*Funk,  Charles. 
Funk,  Edward. 
Granger,  Josiah. 
Haight,  Benjamin  J. 
Haines,  Samuel  J. 
Haller,  Samuel. 
Haller.  Theodore. 
Hand,  John  Wesley. 
Harp,  Joseph. 
Healey,  Christopher. 
Holton,  Richard. 
Ingham,  Silas  A. 
Kyburz,  William. 
Langdon,  Isaac  M. 
Lawrence,  Charles. 


Lull,  Noyes. 
Magill,  John  C. 
Maycock,  1  tarry. 
Meadow  s,  John  G. 
Merriam,  James  E. 
Owels,  Herman  F. 
Owels,  William. 
Robertson,  Oscar  B. 
Stulken,  Gerhard  E. 
Tayli  >r,  James  P. 
Travis,  Francis  W. 
Tripp,  George  W. 
Watts,  Edmund  T. 
Watts,  Gebhard. 
Watts,  James. 
Wilcox,  Thomas  H. 


Banfield,  Michael  R. 


TENTH   BATTERY. 

Cash,  William. 


THIRTEENTH    BATTERY. 


Beckley,  Homer  Aleader. 

Bond,  Samuel. 

Boyle,  Felix. 

Branch,  Willard  S. 

Campbell,    Robert  A. 

Chaffee,  Alfred  E.,  First  Lieutenant. 

Clark,  Edward  F. 

Corkett,  John  K. 

Cross,  George  L.,  First  Lieutenant. 

Dancey,  George  E. 

Dewing.  Norman  Houston. 

Fisk,  Lucien  J  I. 

Flanders,   Arthur  W. 

Fryer,  James. 

*Green,  Addison. 

Green,  Charles  A.  . 


Hall,  William. 

I  farrison,  Alpheus  T. 
Holcomb,  John  J. 
Hunt,  Charles  P. 
Jotie^.   ^mericus  \  . 
Ji  Hies,  I  [enry  L. 
Magill,  James  A. 
:  Plain,  John  V. 
Redf  Til.  Spencer  T. 
Robinson,  I  >avid  S. 
Rockwell,  Morris  E. 
Saunders,  Michael. 

S<  hultz,  August  W. 
Sewright,  I .     iLre. 
Simpson,  Thorn; 
in-.  I  [enry  C. 


124 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Stoner,  Hiram. 
Thatcher,  George  D. 
Walsh,  William. 
West,  William. 


Westphall,  William. 
*Wickett,  Thomas. 
Wing,  George  Nelson. 


FIRST    INFANTRY. 


Becker,  William  H B 

Beckwith,  George  Henry C 

Carter,  Arthur  W B 

Carville.  James C 

Devendorf,  Daniel  B.,  Asst.  Surgeon 

Dye,  James  Wr Band 

Fabian,  August C 

**Fabian,  Charles C 

*Fischer,  Emil  Caspar C 

Hinzpeter,  August C 

Kingman,  Newton  H K 

Kirsner,   John    C 

Lawrence,  Henry C 

Lawrence,  William  R C 

Lawton,  William B 

Leary,  Daniel C 

Lippitt,  John  W E 

Lumb,  William E 

Marbecker,  James  M B 

Mead,  John B 


.Montague.  Henry  O B 

Moore.  Edson B 

Morgan,  Leman  C F 

Mosher,  William  Henry B 

*Mulligan,   James    B 

Neiheisel,  Peter C 

Neldner,  Frederick   C 

Norcross.  Pliny K 

Owens,  John  H B 

*Peake,  William C 

*Relyea,  Leo/is B 

Savage,  Horace  D B 

Schlieger,  Conrad C 

Scrafford.  James  B F 

Sentenn,  Lewis  W C 

Skillen.  John  C B 

Slocum.  James Band 

Wandall.  Henry B 

Weyrough,  Jacob C 

*Whilden,  Jesse  - B 


SECOND   INFANTRY. 


**Baldwin,  Theodore  F K 

Barright,  Augustus  D F 

Beckwith.  Edward  Seymour  .  .  .  .  K 

I  >'  >yle.  James K 

*Flanders,  Martin  V K 

Garrett,  Andrew  J K 

Gilbert,  Don  A K 

I  layne,  Nicholas K 

Knapp,  Franklin  P K 


Mcintosh,  James K 

Mclntyre,  John D 

McLachlen.  John D 

Nagel,  Nicholas K 

Ray,  Patrick  Henry K 

Rodman,  Martin F 

Salisbury.  Charles  J K 

Si-'  ►field,  I  leorge  F F 

Stratum,  Alcinous   C 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    Wisconsin.  [25 

Stratton.  Gilmore  M C  Whitney,  T.  B K 

Teachout,  Nelson  E K  Wilkins,  1  [enry  B K 

Welton,  Marvin   F  Winne,  Oscar  F G 

THIRD    INFANTRY. 

Baker,  Charles E  Johnson,  Lorenzo  D I 

Bartlett,  Oscar  F.,  Surgeon.  Mcl-'arlane,  Edward  P B 

*Baxter,  William K  .Meyer,  Francis  Xavier D 

Beans,  Albertus    I  Newell,  Alonzo K 

Browne.  William  Adamthwaite.  .    G  Otterson,  Osmund \ 

Cornell,  Louis A  Otterson.  Warren  P \ 

Feeny,  James —  Priem,  Richard \ 

Hart,  Charles  A A  *Sales,  William 1 1 

Hart.  John  R A  Sawall.  Louis K 

Hart.  Perry A  Williams.  Jabez K 

*Haswell,  Joseph A 

FIFTH    INFANTRY. 

Baker,  Nathaniel E  Money,  I  'eter - 

Eggleston,  John F  ** Riley.  Abram  K \ 

Hanson,  John F  Storey,  John  W G 

Ingalls.  Alfred K  Sturgis,  William  B Vdjt 

Tones.  William  G — 


SIXTH  INFANTRY. 


Allen,  William  G D  Kilmartin.  John G 

Bartlett,  Oscar  F Wt.  Surgeon  Rogers,  John  W D 

Brennan,  John I  >  Van  Wie.  I  )avid  C K 

Coonrod,  Martin C  Wilson,  <  leorge  W 


SEVENTH     INFANTRY. 


Barrett,  Patrick K  Carney,  Edward K 

I '.card.  Josiah  II K  Carney,  George K 

Browne,  James   Edwin B  Claflin,  John  S K 

Bruce,  fohn  W..  2d  Lieut K  Costley,  William II 


i2b 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


♦Cromwell,  Orrin  B B 

Durham,  John B 

♦Eddy,  Nathan  H K 

Eggleston,  Leroy  A K 

Ellis,  William  D K 

Fenton,  John  H K 

♦Herrington,  Albert  M K 

Hoyt,  George  S Major 

Hoyt,  John  M Captain  K 

Hughes,  William K 

Huntress,  Gideon K 

Huntress,  Hiram  B K 

Hyde.  Willis K 

Klein,  Carl K 

Livingston,  Reuben  L K 

Lyon.  Frederick  S K 

McCabe,  James K 

**McKinney,  William  D K 

McNamara,  Michael K 


Miller,  Peter  G.  C K 

Morse,  Samuel  B.,  2d  Lieut K 

**  Norton,  Charles  B K 

**Norton,  Nathan K 

Sentenn,  Menander  O I 

Smith,  Charles  W I 

Snyder,  James  H K 

Stever,  Washington,   1st  Lieut..    K 

♦♦Stillson,  Thomas  H A 

Teachout,  Alfred K 

**Walrath,  William  W..  2d  Lieut.   T 

*Watson,  George  F K 

**Whitcomb,  Francis T 

White,  Nelson I 

Wilkins,  Louis  S K 

*Wilson,  William  S K 

Wood.  Stafford  L K 

Wood.  Stillman K 


EIGHTH    INFANTRY 


Alcroft,   George    K 

Baker,  Horace K 

Billings,  Levi  J K 

Dawson,  Thomas K 

Dickinson,  Charles  D K 

Farley,  Edwin K 

Fellows,  Theodore  A..  Captain.  .  K 

lYrnald,  Clarence K 

Fernald.  Frederick K 

Faulkner.  John K 

Field.  Francis  M K 

Grestjen,  Isaac K 

I  [art,  <  leorge  N K 

I  [erzog,  Edward K 

Hickox,  Alfred  A K 

Hicknx,  William  E K 

Hobart,  John Chaplain 


Holmes,  George  S K 

Hubbard.  John    K 

*Lowe,  John  H K 

Mack,  Hulbert  C K 

*Mairie,  Albert  Dickson K 

♦Manning,  Charles  B K 

Miller.  Amos  J K 

*Mott,  Josiah K 

Myles,  Nellis — 

Noyes,  Charles  Augustus K 

Olp.  Harry K 

♦Paddock,  Herbert  G K 

Palmetier,  Charles,  2d  Lieut.  ...  K 

Palmetier.  Jared K 

Powderly,  William  II K 

Randall.  Cedric  B K 

Rollow,  Francis F 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


'-7 


*Rouse,  William  N K 

Rutenber,  Menzo K 

Sentenn,  Benjamin fi 

Smith.  Albert  E.,  Capt B 

Smith,  Charles  W K 

Smith,  William  R K 

Tin  >mas,  David K 


Thurston.  Alfred  X C 

*Tupper,  Silas  W K 

W  eeks,  Levi K 

Whonn,  William K 

Wyman,  Frank  I K 

Wyman,  <  leorge K 


NINTH    INFANTRY. 


Alt".  Marcus  E 

Boiler,  Franz   '. E 

Booth,  Andreas — 

Good.  Anton    G 

*Grossmeyer,  Johann    D 

Hille.  John H 

Holl,  Leonhardt D 


Kieslich,  Franz,  Hosp.  Steward 

Naumann,  Friederich   E 

Xaumann.   Moritz    I". 

Scheitel,  Joseph C 

Scherle,  I  tenry II 

\  orpagel,  Julius |  | 


TENTH    INFANTRY. 


**Adams,  Daniel 

*Adams.  Mortimer 

*Adams,  Peter 

Alf.  Wendelin 

Babcock,  Ira  E  

Babcock.  Plimpton 

**Bell.   William  J 

Blakeman.  Absalom 

*Bovee,  Andrew  D 

Bovee,  Cornelius 

Brabazon.  William 

Bradt.  William  I 

Briggs,  \\'il! >nr  X 

*Bro\vn.  Sibley 

*Burdick,  Chester  A.,  ist  Lieut. 

Burr.  Charles  FI 

Burtard,  John 

Carroll,  Patrick 

Carver.  Edward  W 


A     *Coburn,  William  II A 

A     Conant,  Shumway  .  .  .  .' \ 

A     Concklin,  Charles  W \ 

A     **Concklin.  James   II \ 

\     Conrick,  J.  (  tecar  A 

A     ( lornell,  Peleg \ 

A     Dalton,  William \ 

A     Day,  William  W D 

A     I  (euel,  Ji  iseph  I! Hand 

A      I  teuel,  Mortimer \ 

A      I  )e\  one,  William  J \ 

\      I  >e\\  ing,  <  Irlando \ 

A     Dewing,  Walter  Edwin \ 

A     Dopp.  ( leorge  C \ 

C     Eati  tn,  Ji  i  eph  S.  J \ 

A      Eckerson,  Sherrod \ 

A     Ewing,  Albert  O \ 

A     Foster.  Elon  G \ 

A  tin,  William  M    \ 


128 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Fowler,  George  W A 

*Frost,  Francis  M \ 

German,  William  H \ 

Goff,  James  M.,  Adjutant. 

*Griffin,  DeWitt \ 

Hall,  Robert \ 

Halverson,  George  F A 

Hare,  Levi A 

Harkness,  Robert,  Major. 
Harrington,  Flavius  J.,  ist  Lieut.    A 

Harrington,  Woodbury A 

Hay,  Washington  T \ 

Heaton,  Abram A 

**Hein,  Peter    \ 

Hitclicock.  Amos  Hunn A 

Holland,  George  H A 

Hooper,  Jamin  H A 

**Hunt,  George  W A 

*  Johns,  Freeman A 

*Johnson,  Henry  O.,  major. 

Jokich,  Frank A 

Kline.    I  )avid A 

Lee,  Elon  N A 

*Lee,  Luther V 

**Long,  John  H \ 

Lord,  Andrew  H V 

Luce.  Robert  M \ 

*Mc(  'aim,  John \ 

!*Manning,  Frank  E \ 

Matteson,  1  )avid   \ 

Vlatteson,  William \ 

Moffatt,  Willis  B \ 


Montague,  Harrison  M A 

Morrison,  Thomas  H A 

Mulville,  Martin A 

Nicholai,  Theodore A 

Xorcross,  Levi  W A 

Odell,  Fernando \ 

Parsons,  Elisha  Y A 

Peny,  Coryclon  M A 

Pilling,  Richard \ 

*Rector,  Hugh  A A 

Red  ford,  William \ 

Ripley,  James  B \ 

Sayles,  William  B A 

Scott,  Marion  L A 

Shaver,  Martin  V A 

Sheldon,  Josiah A 

Smith.  Fred  V A 

**Snell,  Charles \ 

*Snell,  James  K V 

Spurr,  George A 

Sterling.  Franklin \ 

Stewart.  William  J \ 

Thanet,  John  M \ 

*Tyler,  Joseph A 

Vail,  Franklin A 

Wadkins,  William  H.  C A 

Williams.  MSlo  K \ 

*Wilson,  James  S A 

Wood,  Robert  B \ 

Wood,  Walter \ 

Woodward,  Benjamin  1" D 

Woodward,  John D 


i  I  I  \  i:\rn     [NFANTRY. 


*  Bowman,  Ransom \     Cox,  Charles  A H 

Boyce,  Hilton  W.,    \.sst  Surgeon.  *Fryer,  Henry C 

Bryant,  I  [orace F     <  iillingham,  William D 


Bryant,  I  [orace  I ) 


D        I  [odeen,  Curtis  7. G 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


129 


Huntley,  Frank  A C 

Huntley,  Selden C 

Lyman,  Richard  B D 

Meracle,  Alonzo C 

Semple,  Charles C 

Sergeant,  David   P I 


Sewright,  John,  1  >t  Lieut C 

Smith,  lames  H II 

Tessin,  John C 

Warren.  Addison H 

Widner,  Martin D 

W  ill..r.   Thilander C 


TWELFTH    1\  I    \N  TRY. 


Barnes,  William  H.  Harrison,  Band. 
Dove,  James,  Band. 

Doyle,  Thomas K 

**Foster,  Benjamin  F I 

Gagnon,  Louis K 

Gaylord,  Josiah  Wilson,  Band 

Hogle,  George  J D 

Jackson,  James  A H 

Jillson,  Orrin  C,  Prin.  Musician. 
Latham,  Edward  M.,  Band. 


Morehouse,   U)ram,  Hand. 
<  )gden,  Stansherry,  Band. 

Ottman,  George  F C 

Parker,  Levi  M C 

I  'otter,  Monroe,  Band. 
Potter,  Paraclete,  Band. 
Robbins,  Edwin  R..  Band. 
Shaver,   I  [enry   ]..  Band. 

Stroud,  Alfred C 

Taylor,  fames  I ' \ 


THIRTEENTH    IN  1'  \  NTRY. 


Allen,  Levi  E C 

Bahcock.   Hosea    I 

Babcock.   James    I 

Bacher,  Philip C 

Bailey,  Harrison C 

Barber,  John  C II 

Bardwell,  Henry  G.,   ist  Lieut..    C 

Barney,  James  P II 

Bauer,  Jacob C 

Beckwith,  (ieorge  Henry,  Capt.      1 1 

Bell,  William  R C 

Berrie,  John.  Principal   Musician. 

Bidwell,  George C 

Bigelow,  Francis  A I 

Bogardus,  Wesley C 

Bollinger,  Daniel C 

(9) 


Bottrell.  Richard I 

Bo  ■  e,  Lorenzo  D.  F C 

Boyce,  Volney  J C 

er,  <  "harles C 

Boyington,  I  hester II 

Brandt.  Eugene II 

Brewer.  «  !<  i  >rge I 

n,  William  I ' ' 

*Bulli «  i     i    ederick II 

k,  Charles  H K 

Burdick,  Edgai  0 K 

Burkhart,  <  Christopher  ...  I 

:  Burton,  I  farlow C 

Burton,  William  S  C 

Bush,  David  H C 

Bush,  Henrv C 


130 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


*Bush,  Peter C 

Bush,  William  H C 

*Cameron,   George  H.   Captain .  .    I 

Carroll,  Henry I 

Casper,  George  M C 

Castle,  Alonzo  L H 

Chatfield,  David  B I 

*Clark,  Albert  S C 

Clark,  Oscar  F C 

Clark,  Walter  S C 

*Clark,  William  M C 

Clarke,  Oliver  P K 

*Clemons,  Harvey    I 

Cline,  Christian C 

Codding,  George  B E 

Cole,  Frank C 

Colton,  Harvey  T 1 

Conable,  Henry  H C 

Cone,  Melville C 

Cone,  Wilbur C 

Conner,  John I 

Cook,  Joseph I 

Cook,  William  J H 

Corey,  Barnabas  M C 

*Corey,  Charles  H C 

Corning,  Andrew C 

Coxshall,  William I 

*Crandall,  John  B K 

Crevelin.  Charles C 

Crofts,  Hobart  B C 

Cron,  Christian C 

*Dane,  David I 

1  )ane,  William I 

1  >avis,  James  W I 

Deignan,  Charles I 

I  )cmpsey,  Andrew I 

I  lennis,  William C 

-Dibble  Virgil  M I 

I  >obie.   b'lin  C 1 1 


Dockstader,  Jerome  G K 

Dockstader,  Willard K 

Doolittle,  Orla  W C 

Dougall,  Thomas  H C 

Draper,  Napoleon  B K 

Duncan,  Solomon I 

Dunn,  David  D C 

Dunn,  Robert  S C 

Dunn,  William  B C 

Eckerson,  Willis  D C 

Edwards,    David I 

Elliott.  Ozias H 

Ellis.  Charles H 

Emerson,  Benjamin H 

Emerson,  George  W H 

*Finch,   Lorenzo  D I 

Fish,  John  T.,  Captain C 

Flansburg,  Isaac C 

Foote,  Franklin I 

Forrester,    Robert    C 

Foster,  Edwin I 

Foster,  Leander  J I 

Fountain,  Frederick I 

Freer,  Charles E 

Garbutt,  Joseph I 

Garrity,  John I 

Gates.  Boukritz I 

Gilbert,  Louis  A 1 

Gile,  George  Franklin C 

Gillard.  Seth K 

Gilson,  John  W H 

Glover,  Robert,  ist  Lieut H 

Gould,  Leander I 

Graham,  Charles  C,  ist  Lieut..   H 

Green,  Dewitt  C K 

Green,  Jerome C 

( rreen,  Theodore  T K 

i  iroesbeck,   Elias  II C 

Gunderson.  Harvey H 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


131 


Hale,  Layton  L C 

Hall,  William  H H 

*Halverson,  John B 

*Hamilton,  George I 

*Hanson,  Halver H 

Hare,  Ambrose 1 

Hare,  Caleb  E H 

Hare,  Charles 1 

Hare.  William I 

Hayden,  Lucien  II C 

Hayes,  George C 

Hegert,  John  C C 

Henry,  William  J I 

Herzog,  Henry 11 

Hodgson,  Calvin  W C 

Hodgson,  George  H • C 

Hodgson,  John  S C 

Hodgson,  William  P C 

Hollis,  John H 

Hollis,  Myron 11 

Hollister,  Bradford  N C 

Hollister,  Hiram  A C 

Hollister.  Uriah  Schutt,  Captain.   K 

Holt,  Henry C 

Horton,  Elisha  G.,  Asst.  Surgeon. 

Hotchkiss,  David C 

Hotchkiss,  Jared 1 

Hotelling.  Joseph I 

Hyde,  Newton C 

Jacobson,  Ole II 

Janes.  Alonzo I 

Janes,  William   I 

*Johnson,  William \ 

*Johnson.  William  W C 

*Kammerer,  William  Adam  ....    C 

Kingman,  Isaac  W I 

Kingman.   Newton    II.,  Captain..    I 

*Kingman,  Thomas  R I 

*Kirby,  William  II C 


*Kittelsi  hi.  Jesse II 

Knaub,  William C 

Knilans,  James  K I 

Knilans.  William  A..  Captain.  .  .  .  G 

Knox,  Henry  11.,  ist  Lieut I 

Knudsi  'ii.  Erie,  Band. 

Kroll,  Anson C 

Kuemmel,  Augustus  II.,  Colonel. 

Labuwi,  Matthias C 

Lain,    David   S C 

Lamoreaux,  Daniel  K..  1st  Lieut.  C 

Landon,  John  S C 

Lark  in.  Sylvanus  O II 

Larson,    Andrew,  Band. 

I  ,asher,  (  rarrett II 

Lasher,  Leonard    \ 

Lathrop,  Thomas  B I 

Lauderdale,  Julius    H..   Captain..  I 

Lee,  Andrew  B II 

Levalley,  Benjamin  F C 

Levalley,  (  harles  H C 

♦Levalley,  John  S C 

Levalley,  Lafayette C 

Little.    Ira \ 

Loomer,  Charles  E I 

Loomer,  Wallace  E I 

Loucks,   William,   2d  Lieutenant.  C 

Lowell,  Jerome C 

Lownsbury,  Albert  W..  Sergt.  M 

Met  '.inn'  m,  I  [ugh C 

*Mc(  'art.    Andrew C 

Mel  larthy,  Mountford  I II 

McDonald,  I  >avid 1 

Met  !ee,  John II 

\l<-<  rtnnis,  I  '.'ii  ick I 

♦Manning,  Gilbert H 

Markle,  Charles I 

Markle,  Jesse  B C 

Markle,  William  T I 


132 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,   WISCONSIN. 


Marlette,  Giles F 

Mason,  Addis  E I 

Maxon,  Elisha K 

Maynard,  Hiram  W I 

Meicel,  Frederick E 

♦Mereness,  Jacob  B C 

Mereness,  Luther  J C 

Merrill,  Harvey C 

Merrill,  Martin  L C 

Merrill,  William C 

Millen,  William H 

♦Miller,  John I 

*Miller,  John  R I 

Miller,  Peter I 

Miner,  Rosell C 

Morgan,  James C 

Morris,  Azel  Bird I 

Moulton,  Henry  N C 

Murdock,  Alexander I 

Myers,  Oliver  T C 

Nelson,  Oliver H 

Nelson,  Simon H 

♦Niblick.  John I 

Niles,  Jabez  S C 

Norcross,  Alanson K 

♦Norcross,  Frederick  F K 

Norcross,  Pliny,  Captain K 

Norton,  William I 

Noyes,  Charles  S.,  Major. 

O'Brien,  Michael .' T 

O'Brien,  Patrick C 

Olds,  William I 

Olson,  Martin H 

Olson,  Ole  ist H 

Olson,  Ole  2d H 

♦Osmundson,  Ole H 

Ostrom,  Oscar  H C 

Owen,  William  E C 


Parish,  Benjamin I 

Parks,  Henry  H C 

Parks,  William  D.  L.  F C 

Parsons,  William    H 

♦Patterson,  Josiah H 

Patton,  James  A C 

Perkins,  Daniel  E H 

Peterson,  Kittel H 

Phelps,  David C 

♦Pilcher,  Thomas I 

Pixley,   Sardis    C 

Pixley,  Wilbur  R C 

Powers,  George  W C 

Pramer,  David C 

Pratt,  Edgar  J.,  Captain H 

Pratt,  Joel  A H 

Pratt,  Joseph  L.,  Captain H 

Quant,  William  H I 

Rae.  William I 

Ramberg.  Paul H 

Rankin,  George  H H 

Rami,  Lallemand  H H 

*Rice,  Seymour  2d C 

Robinson,  James H 

Rodewalt,  John  H C 

*Rolof,  William H 

*Rosser,  Ernst   I 

Russell.  Thomas  O..  O.  M.  Sergt. 

♦Salisbury,  Samuel I 

Sanders.  Samuel  C C 

Savage,  James — 

Schermerhorn,  Lawrence C 

Sewell,  George  E I 

Sherburne,  Ceorge  A K 

Sherman.  John  W C 

Sherman,  Silas  T H 

Slocum,  James,  Rand. 

Smith,  Byron  G K 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


133 


Smith,  John I 

Smith,  John  C C 

Smith,  Robert H 

Smith,  Robert  W I 

Solverson,  John  C H 

Stark,  Lorenzo  H I 

Steele,  George  W K 

Stewart.  Archibald  H K 

Stoner,  John I 

Storey,  Columbus C 

Storey,  Elliott C 

Stupfell.  Charles  H C 

Sweet,  Jacob D 

Sweet,  Marion  D D 

Tallmadge.  Asa C 

Taylor,  Luke I 

Thompson,  Albert C 

Totten,  Lyman C 

Townsend,  Nicholas I 

Townsend.  Paul  H I 

Tremper.  John  M I 

Van  Buren,  Sylvester  H C 

Van  De  Bog-art,  Isaac 1 


Van  I  >e  Bogart,  Napoleon I 

\\  aters,  James I 

WClih,  Melvin  M..  Band. 

Webster,  lames  X K 

Weed.  Myron  W II 

Weed.  Nathaniel  Jr 11 

Weicher,  Nicholas H 

Welch.  Daniel I 

Welch,  John  II C 

Welch,  William  II I 

Welton.  Charles  W H 

Welton.  Laban  C H 

West,  Ralph I 

Weston,  Allien  11 K 

Whitmore,  Elias D 

Wicke,  John  F.  W C 

Wilc<>\,  Florence  F C 

WVilkins,  Alden I 

Wilson,  Charles  A C 

Winegar,  Alfred  I C 

Winne,  James 1 

Young,  Israel  W B 


FOURTEENTH     [NFANTRY. 


Bender,  Matthew  W K 

Bradburv.  Charles II 


I  liiit'm.m.  Robert  O K 

Stockdale.  Elisha I 


FIFTEENTH  INFANTRY. 


Abby,  Byron D 

Anderson.  Lars ( ■ 

Andreassen,  Olaf I 

Barr,  Jabez D 

Bjornsen,  Nils I 

Gillard,  Charles  A D 

Hanson,  Ole K 


Johnson,  John I) 

Nelson,  Rasmus K 

I  'ederson,  Anders H 

en   K 

Rice,   Uberl  E K 

Sorenson.  1  fans   C 


134 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


SIXTEENTH  INFANTRY. 


Barhydt,  Lewis  H B 

Barhydt.  Ransom B 

Comstock,  Peter  D D 

*Dart,  Charles B 

Fox,  George  H.,  Captain B 

Fox,  Randolph  A B 

Hollenbeck,  Aaron B 

Hollenbeck,  George  D B 


Hoye,  John B 

Kavanaugh,  Dennis F 

Mann.  Leonard G 

Reynolds,  Joseph F 

Riley,  Patrick F 

Tullar,  Sidney  B.,  ist  Lieut B 

Wood.  Edgar  A H 


SEVENTEENTH    INFANTRY. 


Browning.  Joseph F 

Daly,  James A 

Delany,  Frank F 

Delany,  Patrick   F 

Delany,  Thomas F 

Dougherty,  James   B 

Dwyer,  William F 

**Griffin,  John F 

Keenan,  John  ist F 

Keenan,  John  2d F 

Kelley,  Peter F 

McBride,  John F 

**McCormick,  Patrick F 

Murphy,  Patrick B 


Purcell,  Martin F 

Roach,  John F 

Ryan,  John F 

Scanlon,  Timothy F 

Shelley,  George F 

Stokes,  Cornelius F 

Sullivan,  Patrick F 

Tark,  John D 

Taylor,  Thomas  H I 

Tesch,  Friederich F 

Walsh,  James F 

Walsh,  Thomas F 

Whalen,  Tohn  F F 


EIGHTEENTH  INFANTRY. 
Bi'iggs.  George  II..  Assl  Surgeon.         Hill,  Zelotes 


D 


NINl    III   Mil    IM-  WTRY. 


Baltus,  Joseph F 

Chase,  Philo  \V.,  Asst.  Surgeon. 
I  'evi  ndorf,  I  >aniel  B.,  Surgeon. 

Edwards,  1  >a\  id E 

I  [ageman,   Friedrich    F 


Kingsburj  ,  Theodore  A.,  Hosp.  Stew 

Nelson,  Peter  A B 

Sheldon.  Kirk  W A 

Steeps,  Friedrich  F 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


135 


TWENTIETH  INFANTRY. 


Burt.  Roswell  .  . D 

*Butts,  Charles  W D 

Clark,  Daniel D 

**Corliss,  Jonathan D 

Cox,  William D 

Drake,  Charles  H D 

*Delano,  Edgar  C D 

Delany,  Thomas D 

Doane,  Sanford D 

Ellis,  Edgar  E.,  1st  Lieut D 

Farnsworth,  William  H.,  2d  Lt.  D 

Gardner,  Eugene  F D 

Gillette,  Almerin,  Captain D 

Grimes,  Terence    D 

Holland,  Cornelius  O D 

Huntress,  Samuel  D D 

Jennings,  Whitney  G D 


Ketchpaw,  Alurillo  W D 

King,  George  W D 

Knowlton,  Freeman  T D 

McKaig,  Emmett D 

Madden,  James  H D 

Mountain,  David D 

O'Connor,  Peter  J D 

Parr,  Thaddeus G 

Phelps,  George  H D 

Read,  Charles  G D 

** Remington,  Henry  S D 

Rockwell,  James  L D 

*Romain,  John  B D 

Safford,  Peter D 

Stephens,  J.  Dwight D 

Taylor,  Ralph  W D 

Wood,  Henry  C D 


TWENTY-SECOND  INFANTRY. 


Adams,  William D 

*Aikin,  James  P C 

*  \ikin.  Theron    C 

Albro,  Henry D 

*Allen,  Darius  T C 

Allen,  Dwight  S C 

Anderson,  Edward B 

*  Avery,  Thomas D 

Ayers,  Benjamin  F D 

*Ayres,  Winfield  S D 

Bailey,  James B 

Bailey,  John C 

Baker,  Francis  E B 

Balcortl,  William  R C 

Barlow,  William  W D 

Barr.  Robert C 

Beach.  George  W D 


Becker,  Marcus D 

Belding,  George  T.,  Com.  Sergt. 

Bellows,  Leonard  H D 

Blanchard.  Caleb  S.,  Asst.  Surgeon. 

Blanchanl.  Charles  C D 

Blanchard,  E.  Darwin D 

Blodgett,  William D 

Bond.  Alfred B 

I  >i  K  'die.  David    C 

I'.' mm,  Zadock  II D 

Braliaxon,  William D 

Briggs,  James  C D 

Briggs,  Joseph   D 

Bright,   U  illiam  H C 

Brown,   '  ieorge   If.,  Captain....  B 

Buell,  I  1 1 . 1 1  les  E.,  1st  Lieut C 

Buhre,  <  harles   E C 


136 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


I  Sullen,  Robert C 

Burbank,  Jerome,  Asst.  Surgeon. 

Burdick.  Albert  D D 

Burdick,  John  M D 

Burdick,  William  D D 

Burk,  Andrew C 

**Burns,  Michael C 

Button,  Ezra  W C 

Cansdell,  Henry,  Surgeon. 

Carey,  Julian  M C 

Carey,  Peter C 

Chapin,  Monroe C 

Chapman,  Menzo  W D 

Chittenden,  Albert C 

Church,  Mattoon  A C 

Clark,  Charles  A C 

HI  ark,  George  E D 

Clark,  John  W C 

(  ioburn,  George,  Jr D 

Coburn,  John  C D 

Cone,  Ela C 

Cone,  John  J.,  Principal  Musician. 

Cone,  Sylvester C 

**Congdon,  John  R D 

Conklin.  John    \ 'D 

Conrick,  J.  Oscar,  Adjutant. 

*Cornue,  Albert C 

(  < mil,  Thomas B 

Crandall,  Charles  W D 

1  rane,  Fernando C 

1  ullen,  Martin B 

Cunningham,  Levi  G D 

Cutler.  Daniel  T D 

Cutler,  Riley  II D 

Dame,  James  F 11 

I  (arrow,  Silas  H C 

I  )avey,  Joseph ( 

I  ).i\  idson,  Thomas  I D 

1  (avis,  Edw  in  F D 


Davis,  Harrison D 

Davis,  Henry  S D 

Dayton,  John  S C 

Delap,  Wesley D 

*Deming,  William  H C 

Densmore,  Chauncey C 

*Dix,  John  P C 

Dockstater,  Albert  D D 

Dudley,  Charles  E.,  1st  Lieut.  .  .  .   D 

Easton,  Chauncey  O D 

Eddy,  Harvey  C C 

Edwards,  Evan D 

Edwards,  John  K D 

*Ellis,  Calvin  G C 

Fay,  John B 

**Fellows,  Amos  C C 

*Fellows,  Elnathan C 

Ficht,  John  George D 

Fleming,  James B 

Foster,  James  M D 

**Fuhr,  Wendel    D 

Gage,  Chauncey  D D 

Gibson,  William  L C 

Gleason,  Edward C 

Gleason,  William  Erskine C 

Goodwin,  Almon  .  " C 

(  ioodw  in.   Edwin D 

( rray,  Elihu  W C 

( Gregory,  Myron  L D 

♦Griffin,  James D 

( rroshong,  William D 

Hale,  Joel C 

Hall.  Henry D 

♦Hall,  Willard  M D 

I  [and,  Lacon  1 C 

1  [arrison,  Orville  N C 

Hart.  Edwin  R C 

I  [enry,  William C 

1  feuston,  Reniamin   C 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


137 


I  lines,  John D 

Hodgkins,  Warren C 

Hodgkinson,  Joseph D 

Holcomb,  James  J C 

Howe,  Andrew  J C 

Howe,  Myron  W C 

Hudson.  Clark  L C 

Hunt,  Henry  C D 

Hunt,   Walter  G D 

Hyde.  Legrand  D C 

*  Ingham,  Hamilton C 

**Jacobs,  George D 

Johnson,  David  B C 

Johnson,  Harrison  R D 

Johnson,  ( )rson  D D 

Jones,  David  R D 

Jones,  Evan   D 

Jones,   William    D 

Kathan,  Faylander   D 

'*Kavanaugh,  Thomas D 

Kay,  Edwin   C 

Kellam,  Alphonso  G Major 

Kenney.  Stephen   D 

Kingman.  Isaac  W.,   1st  Lieut..    C 

Knapp.    William    D 

Knilans,    George D 

Knowles,  Stephen,  2d  Lieut....    C 

Kober,  Herman   B 

Leach,  Lyman  W C 

Lewis,   Henry   \V C 

Lewis,  John  J I 

Lobdell,  Marion  C I 

Lytic   Henry    C 

McArthur,  James  D D 

McDonald.  John    D 

McDonell.  John  C C 

McLain,  John    D 

*McMillen,   Robert  G C 


Marcy,  Lucius  S D 

May.  Darwin  R.,  Capt C 

Menzie,  Charles  H D 

Merriam,  Frank C 

Merriam,  Noah   C 

.Millard,  Maxon  P C 

Moorfield,  Thomas    C 

:  Morgan.  Benjamin  F C 

Morin,  James C 

*  :  Morrison,  Thomas   D 

MJ  isher,  Lorenzo  D D 

Mnsher,    Thomas    D 

Nelson,    Sumner    B 

Noyes,  Harvey  J C 

( )sborne,  Hazard D 

Osborne,  John   D 

(  >wen,  James    C 

(  hven,   Wartroop  S D 

*Parker,  Henry D 

Peck.  Phineas  Page D 

Perry,   J.    Lyman    D 

Perry,  William  Norman D 

*Pierce,  Franklin  S C 

Pierce,  Theodore  S C 

Pope.    Alexander    B 

I  'ope,  Benjamin    B 

Powell,  Jonathan   C 

I'unlv,  George  F D 

Purdy,    Henry    D 

Read.    Rollin    C 

Redford,   Robert    C 

Rewey,  Fayette   D 

Rewey,   Philander   D 

Robbins,  Henry   C 

Robillard,  John    C 

Robinson,     We^t     I  ' 

Rockwell.  Frank  M C 

Rogers,    \<lell>ert  D.  L C 


138 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Rogers.  John  D C 

*Rogers,  Joshua  F C 

Rollins,  John  J D 

Rollow,    Lewis    C 

Ross,  Clarkson  N C 

*Ross,  Martin  F C 

*Rouse,  Anthony  D C 

:<  Rowley.  John  D D 

Rowley.  Silas  R D 

*Russell.  Robert   D 

*Rust,  John  F C 

Rutenber,   Augustus    C 

Sanborn,  Herbert  J C 

Saulsbury,  Robert  S D 

Scoville,  Charles  W C 

Scrafford.  James  B D 

Scrafford.  Marshall D 

Scrantpn,  William  Clark   D 

Seymour,  Benjamin    C 

Shimmins,    Richard    I 

Shoemaker,   Martin    D 

Siperly,  John  R D 

-    'erly.    Reuben    D 

Slocum,  John  R D 

-  th.  Alexander  T C 

Smith.  Charles  \Y.,  Major 

E      th.  Cornelius   C 

5     ith,   George  J C 

Smith,    James    C 

-  th.  Julius  P D 

Sm  'V. .   Benjamin  F C 

■or.  Wallace   C 

5l    tford,  David  L C 

ens.    Martin   E C 

Stewart,  Arthur D 

51  >rk,  John  M C 

Mbert  E D 

eter,  Theron  E C 


Sullivan.  Dan    D 

Sullivan,  John  D 

Taylor,  Orsamus  J C 

Thomas,  Herbert  H D 

Thompson,   William    C 

Tinker.  William  H D 

Tome.    Peter    C 

Topping.  John  M D 

Traver,  Ralph  W B 

Underwood,  William  P B 

Van  Brunt,  Henry   C 

Van  Wie,  John  C 

Veley,  Alonzo   D 

Yeley,  George  W D 

Yoorhees.  George  L D 

Yoorhees.  Jasper  C D 

*Wachter,  Jacob   B 

Wait.  Porter    C 

Walsh,  Thomas   B 

::\\  alton,  John  C C 

Walworth,  Jasper  B D 

Watkins,    Charles    C 

Webster.  Robert  G C 

Weeks.  John  A C 

W'eishar.  Jacob   D 

WVeisskopf.  Peter D 

Wells.  A.  Chandler C 

W  eter.  James  P C 

Wheeler.    George    D 

WYhilden.  Robert   D 

White.  Charles  B C 

White,  James  H C 

Williams.  James  R D 

Williams,  Richard  M.,  2d  Lieut.  D 

Wilson.  John  Melvin C 

W  ood,  George  W D 

"Wood.   Henry    D 

Wr  .             njamin  F C 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 39 


TWENTY-THIRD   INFANTRY. 


Fulcomer.   Henry    K     *  Smith.  Charles 

Sergeant,  David  P D 


TWENTY-FOURTH   INFANTRY. 

*  Cheney,  Edmund  W A     Lynch.  Bernard   G 

Fahey,  Michael  H     Wheeler.  Tared  P Surgeon 

TWENTY-FIFTH   INFANTRY. 

Jones,   Lorenzo    F      Rose.  William  W C 

Kane.  Benjamin E 

TWENTY-SIXTH    INFANTRY. 

Awe.  Fritz   C      Kraemer.  Johann  N C 

TWENTY-SEVENTH    INFANTRY. 

Brown.  Edward    I     Hanson.  John H 

Doyle.  James  B A      Xelson.   Eric    H 

Falk.  Ole  Xelson,  1st  Lieut H      Peterson.  Ole H 

TWENTY-EIGHTH   INFANTRY. 

Adams,  Hezekiah I  Bigelow.  Horace   E 

■Allen.  Fayette  L I  Billings.  Levi  J..  Capt K 

*  Ambler,  William K  Bingham.  William  E.,  1st  Lieut.  E 

♦Amundsen,  Bernard D  Blomily.  John E 

Arwood,  Andrew  W E  Bloodgood,  Hiram  S E 

Bacon,  Robert  A E  Bloodgood,  Lewis  E E 

Baker.  John  W I  Bolser,  Mahlon  X E 

Baldwin,  James  A D  Bonnet,  Charles D 

Barnes,  Henry  D I  Bortle.  Samuel E 

Becker.  Bernard   I  Bortle.  Winslow E 

Bell.  Samuel    I  Bowman.  William  H T 

Bentley.  Samuel A  Braasch.    Ferdinand    K 

Bigelow,   Amos    E  Brabazon,  John   E 


140 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


I '.rash,    John    I 

Brewin,  John   E 

Briggs,  William  J.,  ist   Lieut.  . .   K 

Brigham,  Truman  E A 

Bristol,  Robert  W I 

Brooks,    Charles   E E 

*Burdick,  George  J K 

Burr,   Ralph  E I 

Buttles,  Daniel  W I 

Carl,  Frank I 

Carl,  John I 

Carpenter,  Lewis D 

Carver,  Thomas  Corvvin B 

Castledine,    William    K 

Catlin,   John    E 

t  award,  James  J K 

Chamberlain,  Chauncey E 

(  hasc.  William   I 

(  'hene\ ,   Robert    ,    A 

:  (  la])p,  Eli    I 

Clawson,  Garrett K 

Clement,    Garrett    D 

(  lenient.  Samuel   D 

Conant.  <  iordon K 

I  oncklin,  Stephen  J I 

Conrv,  Thomas  K 

Corkitt,  George  D 

•  1 11  kins,   Patrick   K 

Cornell,  Silas K 

i  i  miter,   James   W I 

<  lowing,  <  leorge  1*'..  ( 'apt K 

I  i  i\\  Its.    \^a  Saxton   1 

<  !ox,  ( lharles    E 

Cox,   I  [enry  A D 

Crandall,  1  torace  B.,  Capt 1 

<  !riger,  <  ieorge  P D 

1  lancej .  Thomas  D 

Daniels,    Ubert  0 I 

I  hull,    Edward    1> 


Dawley,  William  J D 

*DeGroat,  George D 

Deilman,   Peter    D 

DePuy,  Edwin  M K 

Deuel,  Edwin  M I 

Dingman,  Charles  A K 

Donohue,   Michael    I 

*Dort,  Amos   D 

Douglas,  Oscar  W D 

Duwling,  William  D D 

Durant,  William A 

Dutton,  Henry  O E 

Early,  John   D 

Edwards,  Daniel I 

Edwards,  Hiram   D 

Eggleston,  Frank   I 

Farrar,  George  H I 

Faust,  Franz    D 

*Feder,  Wilhelm   E 

*Feiss,   Benedict    D 

Fero,  Silas K 

Ferry,  Charles I 

*Fichler,  Augustus I 

Firth,  Robert D 

Fitzsimmons,  Patrick E 

Footc.  Addison  O I 

Fox,  Charles  L I 

*  Frank,  Hiram  P I 

*Gaskell,  John I 

Gaylord,  John  D K 

*(  rleason,    Burnham    1 

<  ileason,  Josiah    I 

( Joodrich,  1  )avid  N D 

"Gould,  Alvin   K 

( bant.  John    D 

I  rrass,  Nicholas T 

Gray.  Edmund  I'.  .  ( 'olonel. 

Groenwald,  Johannes  K 

Groth,  John  F K 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


141 


Guest,  John I 

Haage,  Frederick    D 

Haight,  Hyland  B E 

Hamilton,  William — 

*Hare,  Jesse   D 

Harrison,  John  W D 

Hartwell,  Smith  A.,  2d  Lieut.  ...    I 

Hassold,  Lewis   K 

Hawes,  Lewis  K.,  Asst.  Surgeon. 

Hay,  Sylvanus  Devillo   E 

Hayes,  Hiram  N.,  1st  Lieut D 

Hays,  Alonzo D 

Heath.  Amos K 

Heath,  Charles  H E 

Hebbard,  Asa  W.,  2d  Lieut E 

Heiden,   Henry    A 

"Henderson,  Donald D 

I  lendrickson,  Clesson  A D 

*Hibbard,  Henry  H I 

Hicks,  Jackson  V I 

Hills,  Edwin  T K 

"Hills,  George D 

Hitchcock,  Leonard  S K 

Hix,  Henry   D 

*Hodge,  James  A D 

Hodges,  John   I 

Holmes.  Charles    D 

I  [olmes,  David  M I 

1 1'  Jton,  John I 

Hubbard,  Alva  B I 

Hudson,  Charles   D 

I  Iuntley,  Isaac  Newton E 

I I  yde.   George    K 

Jackson,  James    E 

Jones,  Francis   K 

Keenan,  Patrick D 

Kenyon,  James  R.,  Capt I 

Kenyon,  Ralph  C E 

Kershaw,  Job    I  > 


King,    Farrell    1 

Kinney,  Francis D 

Knowlton,  Francis  P E 

Kober,    Charles    I 

Kuhn.  Charles   D 

Kynaston,  John D 

Langen,  John    I 

Langstaff,  James  E 

Larkin,    Michael    D 

Lasher,  John  H D 

Lingeman,  Henry   D 

Loomer,  William  E E 

Lyman,  Edwin  C E 

McKenney,  Jeremiah  I 

McManus,  John A 

Magill,  Jerome  B.,  Adjutant. 

Maher,  Michael I 

Martel,  Joseph E 

Matheson,   Donald    I 

Matheson.  John    I 

Mayhew,  William  H 1 

Maynard,  William D 

Mead,  James  M.,  2d  Lieut D 

*Means,  John    E 

Miles,  John   D 

*Miller,   Isaac    D 

Miner,  Nathan  N \ 

Moore,  Michael   E 

.Morton,  Ira  P.,  Capt K 

Mountain,  John    I 

Mount  ford,  Aaron I ) 

*Murray,  James  I 

Newcomb,  Joseph  J E 

Nelson,    Peter    D 

Nickerson,  Gilbert  E D 

*Nims,  1  >ew  itt I 

Noblet,  Joseph,  Jr r 

Noblet,  Peter I 

Noblet,  Valentine  1 


142 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Norcross,  Edwin  R E 

Norton,  Bernard I 

*Nott,  William  H I 

O'Brien,  Michael    I 

**0'Brien,  Patrick I 

O'Brien,  William    I 

Olsen,  Gilbert D 

♦O'Reagan,   William    I 

Organ,  John,  Jr I 

Ostermeier.  Michael    D 

Parker,  John  A K 

Park-.  Milton  B I 

Patterson,  Albert    I 

*Peake,  Gilbert I 

:  I  'irk,  John  T K 

Peck,  William  W \ 

Phelps,  Anson  D E 

*Phelps,  Arthur K 

Phoenix,  James  R A 

Phoenix,  John  W A 

Pierce,  ( 'harles  Z D 

Poland,  Arthur I 

Pollock,   Thomas    I 

Potter.  Alfred  C I 

Pratt,  George  W E 

l\ainH'\ .  Fayette  S I 

Redington,  Edward  S.,  Capt.  ...   D 

Redmond,  John A 

Reed.   Hiram   H K 

Reinhart,  Albert D 

*Robbins,  Charles  E D 

♦Robinson,  John  B E 

Rockwell,  Charles  W D 

Rockwell,  John  B E 

Rodgers,  John  W D 

Rusch,    I  Icnry    D 

Sanford,  1  >aniel  K E 

Sat  ight,  Andrew D 

Schein.  ( '<mrad   I 


Scholl,  Charles D 

Scholl.  Christopher D 

Schroble,  Charles  W D 

Schrom,  James  B.,  ist  Lieut.   .  .   D 

Schulz,  John    D 

Seymour.  Alex.  T.,  ist  Lieut.   ...    I 

**Shabino,  Joseph A 

"Short,  George  W I 

Short,  James I 

Shubert,  Harvey I 

*Simpson,  Charles  H D 

♦Smith,  Delos  C I 

Smith,  George  ist — 

Smith,  George D 

*Smith,  Lyman  D E 

Smith,  Lyndsey  J.,  Capt I 

Smith.  Oscar    D 

Snider.   John    E 

Snow,   Eli  H E 

Spencer,  Lorenzo  D K 

Spoor,   Charles    I 

♦Sterling,  James  H I 

Stewart,  John  A E 

Storms,  Charles   I 

Stnmg.   Solomon  I D 

Stuit,  Charles   I 

♦Sullivan,  Jeremiah   1 

Sullivan,    Michael    E 

Summers,  Stephen E 

Smth.  .Matthias D 

Sutcliffe,  Sam  I 

Sutherland,  Morris  S K 

Taylor,  Charles  H 1 

Taylor,   lames   D 

Taylor,  James  B E 

Teller,  Johann    D 

l  hi  imas,    Francis    I 

I  hi  imas,  Jacob D 

Thwing,  Emery  Z E 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


M3 


Tiffany,  Alfred  W .  .   I 

Timlin,  Patrick   D 

Tolifson,   Bringel    E 

Trautman,  George D 

Troy,  Edward   D 

Tucker,  George  D 

Tuller,  Chesley  B..  2d  Lieut.   .  .  .    B 

Utley,  Cyrus   I 

Vanderpool,  Aaron  L I 

Vaughn,  Alonzo    I 

Vaughn,  Henry  Clay  I 

*Vaughn.  John   I 

**Yellam.  Andrew    E 

:|AYalker.  Jacob D 

Ware.  Charles  A D 

Waters,   Isaac    I 

Watts.  Henry  H.  1st  Lieut.    .  .  .    D 

Webster.  Albert  J C 

*Webster,  Henry  C F 

Webster,  Wheeler  B E 

Weeks,  Clark  O I 

**Weeks,  Spencer  J I 

Weiss,  Joseph    D 


*Welch,  Hiram  J E 

Wells,  Edward   I 

West,  Dennis    I 

Wheelock,  Norman D 

*\\Tiite,  Seymour I 

*Whitton,  John    I 

Wilber,  David  C E 

Wilkins,  Horace  T E 

Wilkinson,  Horatio  N D 

Wilkinson,  Joseph   E 

nVilliord,  Hardy    E 

Williams,  Emery  D I 

Williams,    Harry    — 

Wilson,   John    H 

Winslow,    George    M D 

Woodward,  William  H T 

Wray,  Thomas    .  .  .  .' D 

Wright,  Benjamin  F K 

Wright,  Duncan   I 

Wylie,    George   W.,   Quartermaster. 

Yeomans,  Cyrus    D 

Young,    Menzo    K 

*Zeeter,   Frank    K 


TWENTY-NINTH    INFANTRY. 


Bowen,  Edward  H. 


THIRTIETH   INFANTRY. 


Vlkins.  Henry  Breckinridge   .  .  .    K     Bruce,    Robert    C 

Adkins,  William    K     Eastwood,   Reuben    K 

THIRTY-FIRST  INFANTRY. 

Hanchett,  Charles  C.  C ( ! 

THIRTY-SECOND   INFANTRY. 

Comstock,  Peter  D A     Uhflettig,   Caspar    C 


144 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


THIRTY-THIRD    INFANTRY. 


Coney,  Henry — 

Dilley,  Oscar  H G 


*Lyon,  Samuel  E F 

Xickerson,  Charles  W E 


THIRTY-FOURTH    INFANTRY. 


Hoeger,  Louis 


G     Shavor,  Edward  P A 


THIRT\r-FIFTH    INFANTRY. 


Beilby,   James    D 

Brainerd,  Sardis   D 

*Brown,  Millard  F H 

*Carley,  George  R H 

*Chappell.  John D 

Corhin,  Alfred G 

*Cronin.  Timothy D 

*Diven,  John H 

Huntley,  Delos  W H 

*  Jones,  San  ford F 

I  iddle,  George E 

*Liddle,  Thomas E 

Liddle,  William   E 


McCarty,  Charles G 

McDonald,  Michael   — 

Markham,  Alfred  P H 

*Nicolai,  Henry F 

Owen,  Ole   G 

Parker.   Luther    E 

Ray.  Henry  E..  First  Lieut I 

Stevens,  Martin  E.,  Second  Lieut.  G 

Sturtevant,  Edwin,  Capt A 

Taylor,  Richard  F E 

Thompson,  Frank   A 

*Thompson.  Ole   G 

Wall,  Walter I 


HIRTY-SIXTH    INFANTRY. 


*Balcom,  Russell  M C 

Blakesley,  Forrest — 

<  ihase,  Albert  O H 

**Cleaves,  Corydon  L C 

<  one,    I  [enry    C 

*Dayton,  William  W C 

I  n  wr\ .   Frederick   A 

Dibol,  Daniel  II \ 

Flint,   Perry  G \ 

<  ierman,  Zenas  Crane A 

Griffin,  Charles  E.,  Capt A 

I  [and,  <  reorsre  C A 


Hart.  Walter  O \ 

Haskell.  Martin A 

♦Hudson,  Harvey  W C 

Kelsey.  William E 

Locke.   William    E 

Long,  Edward  J A 

Lucky,  William \ 

I  .nun,  James  T A 

Mead,   Ezekiel   A 

Miller.  Alanson,  Hospital  Steward.. 

*Miller,   Clarkson.   Surgeon 

Palmer,  Ralph  I H 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


145 


*Peck,  Truman    G 

*Pultz.  Abraham   B 

Putnam,  Levi A 

Reagles,   Ezra    A 

Shabino,  Antoine E 

*Stagg,  Charles  N E 

*Stevens,  John  E C 

**Upright,   William    A 

Van  Nest,  Peter  S.,  Chaplain 


Virgin.  Charles  \V A 

Wandell,  Henry G 

Weber,  Albert  C G 

\\  halen,  Daniel   D 

Whipple,  George  W G 

Willsey,  John  J C 

: Wilson,  George   E 

Wright,  Charles  H D 


THIRTY-SEVENTH  INFANTRY. 


Aldrich,  Samuel  K A 

Allen,  Thomas  J A 

Artie,  Courtland  J A 

Babcock,  Charles  R G 

Baldwin,  Francis  A G 

Barnard,  Francis  D A 

Barron,  George   G 

Briggs,  Thomas A 

Carman,  Henry H 

Carney.  John A 

Carney,  Xelson  H A 

Case,  Charles   — 

Clark.  Joseph  E G 

Cline,  George A 

**Cline,  George,  Jr F 

Coyne,  Thomas — 

Cross,  George  L I 

•^Cruver,  John  M G 

Davis,  Charles    — 

*Duley,  John  \V B 

Dunn,   Payson    F 

Everly,  John   — 

'  Gardner,  Eugene  C 

'  rleason,  Michael.  Jr B 

1  [arrison,  John  L C 

I  [erber,   Ferdinand   A 

(10) 


Hodgson,  Albert    F 

Hodgson,  George  \Y F 

*Hunt,  Oliver  H A 

Hutchinson,  Albert  W A 

Hutchinson,  Robert A 

Jones,  San  ford,  First  Lieut.    ...  A 

Lynch,  Patrick E 

Lyon,  Edgar I 

Mfclntyre,  John   G 

M.  Mullen,  John    D 

Miller,  Jacob    F 

Moore,  George  L — 

Moore,  William  H A 

Morehouse,  Robert   D 

Mulheron,  Peter    E 

*Neff.  Charles  J G 

Norton,  Edward  T H 

Odell,  John  A A 

**Peck,  Carroll  M H 

Peterson,  Peter   \ 

I  'owers,  Clarence  L G 

*Reiner,  Johannes A 

Rosenkrantz,  Anson  C \ 

Roundy,  Daniel  ( '..,  Surgeon 

Roundy,  Porter  \\\.  Hosp.  Steward 

Rowe,  Georgi     \ H 

i 


146 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Sargent,  Edward  N I 

Sew  ard,  Joel    E 

*Sprague,  Henry  R G 

Thon,  Jacob I 

Tapper,  Oramel  E A 


Weed,  Edward  Z    A 

:\\"ells,  William G 

**Wheeler,  Benjamin  F A 

Whitford,  John  F C 


THIRTY-EIGHTH    INFANTRY. 


Booth,  Stephen  M E 

Brennan,  James F 

Byrum,  Carlos  C G 

(  litirehill,  Christopher E 

* '.( mklin,  Daniel H 

Cook,  William  H K 

Duncan,  John  R F 

Ellis,  Henry  C F 

Godfrey,  John  D D 

I  [askins,  Daniel  S K 


Jefferson,  James K 

Mooney,  Patrick I 

<  Hmstead,   Ephraim    H 

Parkins,  John  WT K 

*  Pells,  David .'....  K 

Prouty,  Albert  S K 

Ryan,  .Michael G 

Stevens,  Jacob  C K 

White,   Tohn G 


THIRTY-NINTH    INFANTRY. 


Bartholomew,  William 

Beckw  ith,  Alanson 

(  hamberliri,  Everett,  Captain  . 

Chamberlin,  Sidney 

Estabrook,  Edwin  C 

Cooled,   Fritz 

Gunnison,  Samuel 


Hollenbeck,  John  M I 

Howard.  Willis  B B 

Janes,  Mlortimer  A 

Mckinney.  Jeremiah 

Mitchell,  Isaac 

Thayer,  Lyman  B 

Zinn,  William 


FORTIETH    INFANTRY. 


Allen.  S.  Merritt B 

\llton,  Andrew I) 

Andrews,   Edward I 

Bailey,  Willard  C F 

l'>al<!\\  in.  John F 

Hall,   Rufus   R C 

Barker,  <  harles  W F 

Beckley,  Edwin  R  .  .  .' I" 

I lennett,  Jay  W I 


Bennett,    Sanford    Fillmore,    2d 

Lieutenant F 

Billings,  Henry  M F 

Birge,  Charles D 

Black,  Charles  L I 

Blair,  Albert B 

Blanchard,  Charles  C,  Hosp.  Stew'd. 
Blanchard,  Ofrin  W..  Surgeon. 
Brennan,  William I 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


147 


Brett,  James  Elverton E 

Burdick,  Matthew F 

Burt,  Roswell   F 

Campbell,  John F 

Carswell,  Orland F 

Case,  Adelbert C 

Cheney,  Augustus  J.,  Captain.  ...  F 

Clapper,  Frank F 

Clark,  Dan  W F 

Clark,  Daniel F 

Clark,  Horace  L F 

Clarke,  James  Dallas F 

Clute,  James  W F 

Colburn,  Mahlon F 

Corey,  Barnabas  M F 

Cotton,  Russell F 

Crandall,  Albert F 

Crandall,  Paul  B F 

Cravath,  Pitt D 

Curtis,  Hiram  H B 

Cutler,  Charles  W F 

Davis,  Levi  : F 

Densmore,  George F 

Dunham,  Ephraim F 

Eaton,  Orrin  C E 

Elmer,  Philander  D F 

Faber,  Jacob I 

Ferris,  Isaac  Lewis D 

Field,  Alden F 

Fitzgerald,  Richard F 

Flanders,  Philip  W F 

Flint,  Myron  L F 

Gibbs,  Cyrus  C C 

♦Gilbert;  Charles  H.,  1st  Lieut.  .  .  I' 

Gillson,  Erastus I 

Gleason,  James I 

Graves,  Dennison  A D 

T  fauna,  William  S F 

Hatch,  Nathan  R F 


Hauser,  John  H..  (apt E 

Hauser,  Robert  B E 

Hodges,  George AV F 

Hodgkinson,  Charles  J F 

Holden,  William  J C 

I  loll i st it,   Harrison   I' K 

Hollister,  Kinner  N.,  Captain.  .  .  I 

Hull,  Clarence  E D 

Hutton,  John,  Jr F 

Hutton,  William F 

Hutchins,  Fred  WT F 

Jeffers,  Thompson F 

Jefford,  Thomas  Jr I 

Jones,  William B 

Kaye,  Adin F 

Kelsey,  Benjamin F 

Kennedy,  John F 

Kent,  Isaac F 

Kingman,  Arthur  L K 

Kinne,  George F 

Kinney,  Horace  B F 

Kishner,  John  Charles F 

Larson,  James F 

Lasher,  Peter  B I 

Latta,  William  B B 

Lauderdale,  James  E C 

•Lomas,  Joseph    F 

Losee,  ( rilbert  C F 

Met  annon,  John F 

McCracken,  Frank  L C 

McDonnell;  John F 

McGraw,  John  W F 

McKinley,  John C 

Malloi  \ ,  I  [enry  Levi F 

.Marriott.  1 1  enry  H F 

Merwin,  James  II F 

.Miner,  Rufus   If D 

:  Moody,  David  X F 

Moore,  William  II F 


148 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Morefield,  Thomas  William F 

Mosher,  Jacob  R F 

O'Brien,  John K 

Ottman,  Philip  M F 

Palmer,  Norman  P F 

Phelps,  Jonah F 

I'illsburv.  Marcus  A C 

Potter,  Lorenzo F 

Potter,  Monroe F 

Randall,  Jonathan  L F 

Ray,  \V.  Augustus,  Colonel. 

Read,  Edward  P F 

Reap,  Henry I 

Redneld,  William  H F 

Redford,  Farrington F 

Reeder,  Stephen F 

Rockwell,  Aklis  L D 

Rollow,  Charles D 

Rolo,  Daniel  PI F 


Sanborn,  William  Howard F 

Shader,  John  E F 

Sheldon,  William  E B 

Simmons,  William  H F 

♦Small,  Henry  J F 

Spooner,  Henry  Fish,  2d  Lieut.  .  F 

Swinney,  Edwin F 

Taintor,  Benjamin  C F 

Taylor,  Luke F 

Taylor,  William  R C 

Truax,  Henry  F F 

Trumbull,  Russell  S F 

Utter,  George  S D 

Vincent,  Oscar  F F 

Watson,  Van  Ness  C F 

Weaver,  Franklin  C F 

Westgate,  William  R B 

Wheeler,  Charles  F F 

York,  Dennison C 


FORTY-SECOND    INFANTRY. 


Adams,  Luther  II F 

Uexander,  George  W G 

I  laker,  H.  John B 

Baker,  Zerah  T G 

Ball,  John F 

Benedict,  Andrew   G F 

I'.t t:.;,   I  l<vr!.iah 1\ 

I '"  >hiK'Y.  Archibald F 

Brown,  Richard  K C 

Bryant,  I  .cw  is  N F 

Burke,  William B 

(lark.  Myron  J G 

*Coan.    William    I 

i  olton,  Ebenezer F 

Cutler,  John  II G 

I  )aln  mple,  I  [amilton  S F 

De  I'.iw.  William ( i 


Delap,    Ira F 

Dunham,  James  L F 

Durston,  Edward  W G 

Ferris,  William  T H 

( iardner,  William  D.  S C 

Goodrich,  Harvey  C F 

Greenman,  Jacob  F F 

I  [alverson,  I  lalvcr D 

I I  arris.  Benjamin  F G 

I  [arris,  James F 

I  [enshaw  ,  Charles  11 F 

Hicks.  Richard  S G 

Hitch,  Edward G 

*Hollenbeck,  Robert G 

Jackson,   Fdson   I> B 

Kenyon,  Monroe F 

I  aw  ton,    lames     11 G 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


149 


Lawton,  Samuel G 

Lloyd.  John F 

Lyman,  Walter C 

McCart,  Freeman F 

Morter,  George C 

Oleson,  Jacob  D 

Osborn.  William   G 

*Parker.  Ellis  J K 

Parks,  Jonathan  B F 

Parks,  William  A F 

Pette,  Ambrose F 

Rand.  Edmund   G 

Remmel.  Charles   F 

Renshaw.  Andrew  J D 

Rice,  Lafayette  M K 


Roach,  Thomas G 

Ri  muds,  George  W G 

Sawyer.  Adna F 

See,  Alexander   H 

Smith.  Everett  H G 

Soule,  Robert F 

Starkson,  John C 

Sweet.  Enoch F 

Thomas,  James K 

Tierney,   George B 

Watson,  John G 

Welch,  Leander F 

Welch.   Seymour   F 

Whitney,  Alva  L K 

Zelie.  Myron G 


FORTY-THIRD    INFANTRY. 


Abernethy,  Alexander C 

Assenmacher,  John D 

As>enmacher,   Peter D 

Birkenmeyer,  Joseph A 

Brandt,  James  H C 

Brandt,  Samuel C 

Brownell,  Horace  P A 

Brownell,  Otis I 

Collins,  Henry F 

Durfuse,  George K 

Durfuse.  John   K 

Eck,  Frederick K 

Englerth,  Adam K 

Eugene,  John  B.,  Quartermaster. 

■  l-'.vre,  ( Jeorge  M 1 

Fitzgerald,  Jonathan C 

Freeman,  John  H C 

Garvin,  Eber  N C 

Gillett,  Robert  A K 

Goodale,  Charles  J A 

Gregory.  Uriah F 


Groner,  Michael C 

Harris.  Henry F 

*Hatch,  Nathan  H A 

Hazen,  Amos C 

Holcomb,  Jeremiah   A 

Joslin,  Albert F 

Kelli  igg,  Amos C 

Kellogg,  Charles C 

King  (or  Kling).  William C 

Loomis,  Benjamin  L C 

1 .1  lomis,  Joseph C 

Loomis,  (  (scar  M C 

McKee,  Abraham G 

Nau,  Jacob G 

:'  Nye,  Austin   C 

Osborne,  Robert I 

(  Isborne,  Thomas  I! A 

(  >wen,  William  T F 

Peer,  Miller C 

I'  inck,  Edward F 

I  '<  ii  iler.   Sumner    C 


150 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Raftry,  Thomas    K 

Rasmussen,  John A 

Ries,  Charles I 

Russell,  Thomas  O.,  2d  Lieut..   H 

Satorius,  Matthias K 

Seibert.  George K 

Shaw,  William  F — 

Snider.  David  D C 

Snow,  Willis  S F 

*Spencer,  Archibald I 


Stanton,  Leroy    A 

*Tenney,  Nelson  M I 

Thomas,  Charles  E A 

Trumbull.  David D 

Tuohey,  John K 

Walsh,  Thomas I 

Wentz,   Andrew F 

West,  James I 

Wilson,  John  S F 


FORTY-FOURTH  INFANTRY. 


Abies,  Cornelius G     Lad,  Knud  O 


Flitcroft,  Lorenzo  D D 

Giesme,  Ole  J — 

Hauf,  Simon G 

Kling,  William B 

Krouse,  John B 


*Lederer,  Joseph G 

McGarry,  Thomas E 

Miller,  Charles  Henry G 

Perry,  William  N.,  1st  Lieut.  .  .  .  F 

Roach,  John  M E 


FORTY-FIFTH    INFANTRY. 


Bruestel,  Joseph F 

I  icwirth,  William C 

Ewig,  Anton E 

Geile,  Gerrit C 

Gessner,  George E 

( Iroh,  John E 

1  lass,  August E 


Herzog,  Henry E 

Kunde,  Albert   E 

Meisner,  Frederick F 

Roth,  Jacob C 

Schelinski,  Martin E 

Wesche,  Christian — 

Wirson,  Tohn E 


FORTY-SIXTH     I  \  FANTRY. 


\11dcrson,  Augustus E 

Briggs,  Joseph F 

P.i '  'ker,  Theodore E 

Burton,  Edward E 

( Carpenter,  Silas  I ) E 

1    up,  William  C K 

id  .    Merrill E 


Elvidge,  Mark K 

Ericksori,  Nelson E 

I  lanson,  Johannes E 

I  feath,  Cyrus  D E 

I  limy,  George  N E 

I  linry.  William  L E 

1  [inkley.  Albert E 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


IS' 


Hotchkiss,  Moses E 

Laveson,  Lafe E 

Logan,  William  A E 

Morris,  Timothy F 

Nelson,  Gilbert E 

O'Brien,  Michael E 

Oleson,  Lewis E 

Oleson,  Ole E 

Parsons,  Frederick  O E 

Pattee,  Gad  H E 


Reeves,  Julius E 

Snyder,  James  R E 

Stout,  James  M E 

Thayer,  Ruel E 

Wall,  Thomas  .  . E 

Way,  Hiram E 

Wilkinson,  George E 

Williams,  Albert E 

Yeaman,  Wishart E 


FORTY-SEVENTH    INFANTRY. 


Appleyard,  Thomas B 

Bath,  Irving,  Ffosp.  Steward. 

Bissell,  Charles — 

Brennan,  William E 

Broderick,  Luke F 

Biitz,  Albert E 

Closson,  Henry  G G 

Coleman,  John  L B 

Conklin,  Charles  W.,  1st  Lieut.  .  B 

Conlin.  Matthew H 

Cooley,   Rufus,  Jr.,  Chaplain. 

Copeland,  William B 

Coulthard,  William  B 

Doane,  Leland B 

Doane.  Sanford B 

Dousman,  John  P F 

Enright,  John B 

Estabrook,  Edwin  C B 

French,  Charles  B F 

Gleason,  James E 

Hamilton,  Edgar  C E 

Hamm,  John B 

Hammer,  Carl B 

Hargrave,  Faithful B 

Harrington,  Coleman B 

Harrington,  George  E G 


Hayden,  James H 

Heald,  William F 

Hoffer,  Charles F 

Hotton,  James B 

Ingham,  Thomas B 

Kampstra,  Albert F 

Lombard,  Avinzo F 

Lombard,  Jefferson  G F 

McCarty,  Patrick :  .  .  .  .  F 

McClymont,  James B 

McDonald,  Lemuel   F 

Magill,  Alonzo I '. 

Magill,  Henry  H B 

Marsielje,  Isaac F 

Mericle,  Abram I  I 

.Merrill,  James  H B 

Mitchell,  Edward I'. 

Murphy,  William B 

Nelson,  <  rustav I  > 

Noblet,  Alexander B 

Noblet,  John B 

Noblet,  Peter  A B 

O'Brien,  John B 

O'Hrien,  Thomas II 

O'Brien,  William E 

Olson,  John I ) 


152 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Olson,  Martin  .  ■ D 

Owens,  Michael B 

Pearl,  Edward  S F 

Randall.  John  J B 

Redmond,  John — 

Richmond,  Thompson  P F 

Ritchie,  Patrick B 

Rockwell,  Henry — 

Sheridan,  Patrick B 

Stillman,  James H 


Stradtman,  Christian F 

Thayer.  Edgar ■.  ...  B 

Thornton,  Mathias F 

Toole,  John — 

Trainer,  William B 

Vandewege,  Martin F 

Ward,  George B 

Watkins,  George  C B 

Wood,  Tohn  R B 


FORTY-EIGHTH    INFANTRY. 


Armstrong,  William B 

I'arhvdt,  Horton I 

Beckwith,  Samuel F 

Brockel,  Nicholas B 

Buell,  Leroy  N.,  Serg't  Major. 

Carver;  Aaron,  ist  Lieut K 

Chappell,  Henry B 

Christianson,  Brandell B 

Estey,  Marquis  E F 

French,  George  H A 

( rould,  <  'harles  L F 

Graham,  Charles  T A 

I  [ampsi  m,  Charles F 

Harris.  Charles F 

1  hath,  Jeremiah A 

Heath,  Marion \ 


Jones,  Charles B 

Kaiser,  Ehrhardt D 

Kaiser,  Frederick D 

Loefert,  Gottfried F 

Martyn,  James  L F 

Mueller.  Fritz F 

Rogers,  William F 

Sanders,  Henry F 

Schiesser,   Paul    B 

Schofield,  James A 

Smith.  Christian F 

Tess.  William F 

Tupper,  Henry  N F 

Van  Horn.  James  H B 

Walbert,  William B 


FORTY-NINTH     IN  PANTRY. 


Andrus,  Arthur  D K 

Andrus,  Francis  L I\ 

Balcom,  William  A K 

Barber,  George  W K 

Barker,  Alexander K 

I  >egley,  James  T K 


I'iencman.  Joseph C 

Blanchanl.  Charles  C,  Hosp  Stew. 
Blanchard,  Orrin  W.,  Surgeon. 

Blunt,  Francis K 

Booker.  <  ieorge D 

Brewer,  George  W K 


nett,  David  M D      Brown,  Charles  H K 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


153 


Brown,  Joseph  H D 

Buckles,   Robert D 

Buening,  Ludwig H 

Burt.  Linus  D K 

Byard,  John K 

Campbell.  Patrick F 

Campbell.  Robert K 

Carlin.  Patrick K 

Chadwick,  William K 

Chapman,  Joseph C 

Cheney,  .Augustus  J..  Major. 

Clark.  Benajah D 

Dalrymple.  Hilas  H K 

Davis,  John  A K 

Davis,  John  C K 

Delap,  Henry K 

Derby,  George  W K 

Dickens,  Edwin  G K 

Dickens.  Thomas  S K 

Dodge,  Otis K 

Edgerly,  William  M D 

Ewen.  Wallace  D K 

Fairchild.  David K 

Finch.  Abraham K 

Finch.  Charles K 

Fuller,  Thomas.  Jr K 

Gaffy.  Daniel F 

Gleason,  Jacob  L F 

Gunderson.  Oliver C 

Hadley.   Luther K 

Harding,  Abel  G K 

Harding,  Henry  N K 

Hare,  Albert  J C 

Hauser.  John  TT..  Captain D 

Hauser,  Robert  B D 

Hicks.  John   K 

I  [1  ifstatter,  George  F K 

Hogan,  Patrick K 

Hogan,  Pierce K 


♦Humphrey,  West  B K 

Huntress,  Hiram  B.,  1st  Lieut.  .  G 

Isham,  Francis  Devillo K 

Jacobs,  Elder  F K 

Johnson,  Andrew  .  .   K 

Jones,  Franklin K  . 

Jones,  Frederick  E K 

Kelley,  Francis C 

Kingman,  Arthur  L K 

Kishner,  George K 

Knapp,  Henry  D K 

Larson,  James K 

Lewis,  Oliver K 

Lloyd,  John G 

McClellan,  Charles C 

Malier,  .Michael C 

Mervin,  James  H C 

Moody,  William K 

Moon,  Joseph K 

Morgan,  Franklin  D K 

Morgan,  Solomon  P K 

Xicul.  William K 

O'Hara,  David C 

'  Heson,  Halver  K 

Parshall,  Jonas K 

♦Patrick,  Levi K 

Paul,  Oscar  S K 

Paul,  Sylvester K 

Payne.   Charles    11 

Pemberton,  John K 

Phillips,  David  T K 

Phillips,  William K 

Pratt,  George  W K 

Randall,  Rozell K. 

Redman.  Timothy K 

Riley,  Hugh C 

Roy,  William  II K 

Sanborn.  David  O K 

Sanford,  Daniel  K.,  1st  Lieut...  G 


154 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Saxe,  Louis K 

*Sheldon,  Eugene  A K 

Sheldon,  Horace K 

Sheldon,  William K 

Sholes,  Elisha  C D 

Sinn,  William B 

Skinner,  Austin  F I 

Slack,  George K 

Smith,  John  A.,  Captain K 

Smith,  Stephen  H D 

Southwjck,  Henry K 

Southwick,  James K 

Stone,  Henry  A K 

Stork,  Nelson K 

Stout,  Nelson K 

Stout,  Zebedee  M K 


Sturtevant,  Charles  A K 

Summers,  William K 

Topping,  Josiah  M H 

Tostevin,  John K 

*Tubbs,  Hiram  D K 

Van  De  Bogart,  George  W.  .  .  .  .  K 

Vrooman,  Daniel  E K 

*Ward,  Dustin K 

Westinghouse,  Julius' K 

Whalen,  Patrick  H K 

Wharry,  Robert K 

Williams,  Ole K 

Wilson,  James K 

Wilson,  William   K 

Wright,  James  A K 


FIFTIETH    INFANTRY. 


Noyes,  William E     Townley.  Barney 

Smith,  William  E E 


D 


FIFTY-FIRST  INFANTRY. 


Coleman,  John E 

Concklin,  Thomas  H K 

Gregory,  David H 

Healey,  Hugh F 

Horn,  John  A A 

|i ihnsi "i,  Samuel   E 

l"linson,  William E 


Knight,   Charles E 

Maxwell,  George  W B 

Orr,  William   E 

Parker,  Samuel A 

Ryan.  Thomas  F H 

Thorn,  William H 

Wolf,  Samuel \ 


II  FTY-SECOND    INFANTRY. 


Bennett,  1  >avid  M..  ist  Lieut..  . 

.   A 

Graham,  Charles  C,  <  >.  M 

D 

1-  t.   Paul   1' 

D 

Keeler,  Norman  A..  Adjutant. 

Lucenski,  Nicholas  D 

Winter.  Simon D 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 55 


U.  S.  ARMY. 

Armington,  George  W.  .  .  .4th  Inf.     Moore,  William 4th  Inf. 

Brockway,   Stephen 13th  Inf.     Munn,   Ransom 13th   Inf. 

Brown,  Frederick  M.  .  1st  Vol.  Eng.     Olson,  Andrew  P 4th   Inf. 

Doane,    George 4th   Inf     Reynolds,    Martin 4th    Inf. 

Drake,  James 4th  Inf.     Roberts,  Joseph 4th   Inf. 

Drake,  John 4th  Inf.     Rowland,  Howard  R 4th  Inf. 

Fairbanks,  Carroll,  1st  Sharp  Shoot-     Ryan,   Michael 13th  Inf. 

ers.  Schultz,  Frederick 13th  Inf. 

Foster.  Henry 4th  Cav.      Springer,  James 13th  Inf. 

Gercke,   Charles ..  Hospital  Steward     Thomas,  Henry  C 4th  Inf. 

Johnson,  John.  1st  Sharp  Shooters.  Tillotson,  John  S.,  G,  1st  Sh'p  Sh't's 

Kelley,  Patrick 4th  Inf.  Tyler.  John  D.,  G,    1st  Sh'p  Sh't's 

May,  Eli,.  .Hancock's  Corps,  K  2d  *Tyler,  Loren  K.,  G,  1st  Sh'p  Sh'ts 

Mellon,   John 4th   Inf.  Van  Dyke,  Abner,  Hancock  Corps, 

Mitchell,  Michael.  .A,  1st  Vol.  Eng.     White,  John 13th  Inf. 

ENLISTED   FROM    OTHER   STATES, 

Allen,  Augustus  C 7th  111.  Inf.      Hope,  John  P C,  90th  HI.  Inf. 

Beckwith.  Albert  C.  .  .    1st  la.  Bat.      How,   William —  13th  111.  — 

Brown,  Charles A,  36th  111.  Inf     Labo,  Abraham H,  -2d  111.  Inf. 

Chester,  Robert.  .  .  . 111.  Cav.      Moore,  Jabez  H.,  Lieut 

Cowley,  James C,  90th  111.  Inf B,   1st  111.  Lt.   Art. 

Durkee,  Harris  R C,  9th  111.  Cav L,  2d  111.   Lt.    Art. 

Farr,  Edward  D —  72d  111.  Inf.      Perry,  Charles  A I,  42d  111.  Inf. 

Fitzgibbon.  Edward. C,  90th  111.  Inf.      Sloan,  Patrick C,  90th  111.  Inf. 

Fitzgibbon,  James. C,  90th  111.   Inf.      Sullivan.  John.... — ,  36th  111.   Inf 

Gross,  Daniel C,  9th  111  Cav.     Whelan,  John — ,  23d  111.  Inf. 

Holland,  John  H..II,  95th.  HI.   Inf. 

1  .   S.   NAVY. 

1  tar* t    V   I'.aggs  ( iharles  I..   Hicks. 

Calvin  Barnes. 

U.    S.    COLORED  TROOPS. 

John    Cosley 29th   Inf.      Charles    Hunt Unassigned 

John  Gillman 29th  Inf.     Deny  McDonald Unassigned 


156 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


William  Mason   Unassigned     Robert  Sercer 29th  Inf. 

James    Owens Unassigned     Andrew    Smith Unassigned 

Henry    E.    Randolph    ..Unassigned     Abraham  Tillman Unassigned 

SPANISH-AMERICAN    WAR. 

For  the  war  with  Spain  in  1898,  four  regiments  of  National  Guard  were 
taken  from  Wisconsin  for  service  in  the  field.  The  company  at  Whitewater, 
then  and  now  Company  C,  First  Infantry,  was  filled  by  recruiting,  assembled 
at  Camp  Harvey  and  ordered  southward.  Its  officers  were  Capt.  Leverette 
H.  Persons,  First  Lieut.  William  H.  Hahn,  Second  Lieut.  Edward  T.  Weyher. 
and  of  its  enlisted  men,  sixty-two  were  of  this  county.  Besides  these,  nine 
men  enlisted  in  other  companies  of  the'same  regiment,  and  sixteen  served  in 
Company  A,  Fourth  Infantry.  None  of  these  men  reached  Cuba,  but  four 
died  in  service,  namely:  Bloxham,  September  8,  T898:  Miller,  August  3; 
Southwick,  September  4;  Whaley.  September  6,  the  first  three  at  Jackson- 
ville, the  last-named  at  Second  Division  Hospital.     The  enlisted  men  were: 


FIRST  INFANTRY. 


Ames,    William    M B 

\nk' uncus,  (  harles  H C 

Balsiey',  Dottie  . C 

Barfell.   I  [an  ey C 

Bloxham,  Alfred  W C 

Boswell.  Carlton  M C 

Brunet,  Abelardo H 

Buckley,  Henry C 

Cadman,  Henry  J C 

Charles,  George  R.,  Corp C 

Coleman,  Abner C 

(  1  mroj ,   Martin,  Jr C 

Coolcv,  I  larry  J C 

Crandall,  Bowen C 

( 'utter,  Elmer  A.,  1st  Sergt C 

I  lerthick,  Julius  M E 

1  >c\  inc.   William  J C 

Everson,  Edward  O C 

I  leorge,  Willie  R C 

Hahn,  Arthur  H.J C 

Hall,  John  W\.  Corp C 


Heffren,    Charles   G.,    Corp C 

Henry,  Herbert  A C 

Higley,  Arthur  G.,  Corp C 

Huntress,  Joseph  J C 

Ingalls,  John  P F 

Johnson,   Charles   E.,   Serg't.  .  .  .  C 

Johnson,  Olaf,  Serg't C 

Kamm,  Ernest C 

Koelzer,  William  L C 

Lilienthal,  Emil  A C 

Ludtke,  Willie  A C 

Lyon,  .George  W.,   Corp C 

McBride,  Thomas C 

McLaren.  Paul,  Corp C 

Marsh,  Fitch  G C 

Marskie,  Philip  H C 

Miller.  Louis  R C 

Murphy,  Henry  Francis.  Corp.  .  C 

Odell,  Charles  E C 

Odenwalder,  William  C C 

Page,  Benjamin  II C 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


157 


Poole,  James  E C 

Poole,  Thomas C 

Protheroe,  Lewis C 

Reichel,  John A 

Remy,  Francis  G E 

Rosrnan,    Rolf   P.    M.,    Serg't..  C 

Schneider,  William  H C 

Shimmins,  Harry  W C 

Smith,  Ouincy  K C 

Southwick,  Herman  E C 


Spracklin,  Charles  A.  H.,  Quar- 
termaster Sergeant    C 

Stolf,  Charles B 

Thorne,  Edward  J C 

Tibbets,  Clark    C 

Trolle,  Sophus \ 

Wegner,  Henry  A C 

Whaley,  Ray B 

Wing.  William  G.  N C 

Wolf.  Christjohn C 

Wrigglesworth.    James    C 


COMPANY  A,  FOURTH  INFANTRY. 


Burns,  John. 

Concklin.  Henry  W.  ,  Corp. 
DeProux,  Thaddeus  S. 
Dingman,  Romie,  Corp. 
Eddy,  Ehvin  L.,  Sergt. 
Fowlston,  William  G,  Corp. 
Gillard,  John  B.,  Corp. 
Kelly,  Tames  H. 


Lannon.  Philip. 
McDonongh,  Peter  J. 
Montague,  Myron  G,  Corp. 
Riordan.  James  T.,  Corp. 
Tearney,  Thomas  J.,  First  Serg't. 
Thornton.  Clarence  E. 
Tuke,  Reinold  H. 
Willett,  Walter  F. 


Of  these  men,  Trolle  enlisted  from  Darien ;  Lyon,  Odell,  Protheroe, 
Shimmins.  Smith,  Southwick.  Wolf,  Wrigglesworth,  from  Delavan ;  Conck- 
lin, DeProux,  Eddy,  Gillard,  Kelly,  McDonongh.  Riordan,  Tearney,  Thorn- 
ton. Tuke,  Willett,  from  East  Troy;  Fowlston,  Huntress,  Lannon,  from  Elk- 
horn  ;  Cooley,  Whaley,  from  Heart  Prairie ;  Brunet  from  Lake  Geneva ;  In- 
galls,  from  Linn;  Ames,  from  Springfield;  Derthick.  from  Spring  Prairie; 
Burns,  Dingman.  Montague,  from  Troy  Center.  Sergeant  Tearney  had 
served  in  Company  F,  Fifteenth  I'nited  States  Infantry,  and  Troop  D, 
Seventh  United  States  Cavalry,  five  years  in  all.  He  was  mustered  out  as  a 
quartermaster  sergeant.  All  the  other  men  were  credited  to  Whitewater, 
forty-nine,  including  officers. 

One  more  service  humbly  but  honorably  useful,  in  behalf  of  law  and  or- 
der, was  performed  by  young  men  of  Delavan  and  Whitewater  in  [886,  when 
rioting  at  Milwaukee  called  thither  Governor  Rusk  and  several  companies  of 
the  National  Guard.  Our  boys  were  not  assigned  to  Major  Traeumer's  firing 
line  at  Bayview,  but  threats  t"  property  in  other  parts  of  the  city  compelled 
some  days  of  guard  duty,  and  the  promptly-arriving  Walworthians  served 
faithfully  wherever  they  were  placed. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

NOTEWORTHY    INSTITUTIONS. 

Three  noteworthy  institutions  of  wider  than  local  interest  are  in  the 
county,  but  neither  founded  nor  sustained  by  the  county  or  its  citizens,  namely : 
The  Yerkes  observatory,  the  State  School  for  the  Deaf  and  a  State  Normal 
School.  The  first  is  one  of  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  observatories  named, 
with  their  latitudes  and  longitudes,  in  each  year's  American  Ephemeris  and 
Nautical  Almanac,  and  situated  in  nearly  all  the  countries  of  the  habitable 
or  endurable  earth.  The  second  ranks  among  the  highest  in  the  states.  The 
third  is  the  second  in  order  of  establishment  of  eight  such  schools  in  the 
state. 

YERKES  OBSERVATORY. 

A  far-western  institution  of  learning  had  ordered  from  Mantois,  of  Paris, 
two  42-inch  glass  disks  to  be  combined  and  finished  as  an  object  glass  by  Alvan 
Clark  &  Sons,  Cambridgeport.  Mass.,  but  found  itself  unable  to  go  further 
in  constructing  and  mounting  a  telescope.  George  E.  Hale,  of  Kenwood 
Observatory  (privately  equipped),  and  the  late  President  Harper,  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  thus  found  opportunity  to  buy  these  faultless  disks 
and  with  them  to  build  and  mount  the  most  powerful  refracting  telescope 
in  the  world.  The  means  were  soon  supplied  through  the  liberality  of  the  late 
Charles  T.  Yerkes,  and  in  [892  contracts  were  made  with  the  Clarks  for  finish- 
ing the  lenses  and  with  a  Cleveland  firm  for  the  mounting  of  this  "Dread- 
naught"  of  immeasurable  space.  The  planning  and  general  direct). hi  of  the 
work,  as  to  buildings  and  instruments,  was  committed  to  Mr.  Hale.  From  more 
than  twenty  places  were  offers  of  land  for  the  purpose  in  hand.  It  was  found 
requisite  that  the  site  chosen  should  be  within  one  hundred  miles  of  Chicago 
and  readily  accessible  from  city  and  university;  that  it  should  be  sufficiently  re- 
mote from  the  dust,  smoke,  glare  of  street  lights,  and  jar  of  cities,  and  not  too 
near  the  paths  of  earth-shaking  freight  trains.  Too  close  neighborhood  of 
many  dwellings  was  also  to  be  avoided.  These  conditions  seemed  best  ful- 
filled b\  thai  part  of  section  1.  town  of  Walworth,  which  looks  southwardly 
across  the  western  end  ni  Geneva  Lake.  \  tract  of  fifty-three  acres  was 
given  b)   John  Johnston,  Jr.,  lying  in  the  southwest  quarter  of  the  section. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  159 

In  1907  this  area  was  increased  to  nearly  seventy  acres,  which  includes  a  part 
of  the  narrow  strip  of  section  12  which  lies  between  section  1  and  the  water's 
edge.  The  lake  frontage  is  six  hundred  feet  long,  and  a  pier  for  steamers  has 
been  built  there.  The  lake,  at  this  end,  is  about  one  and  a  half  miles  wide, 
covering  most  of  section  12  and  about  half  of  section  13,  and  the  view  from 
the  observatory  to  the  opposite  shore  is  not  in  any  way  likely  to  become  less 
fair  or  more  shut  in.  The  observatory  stands  within  easy  distance  from  the 
highway,  one  mile  westward  from  Williams  Bay,  and  from  the  highway 
leading  southward  to  Fontana,  about  two  miles  away.  By  way  of  Fontana 
and  Harvard  to  Chicago  it  is  seventy-six  miles.  By  way  of  Williams  Bay 
and  Lake  Geneva  it  is  about  ninety-three  miles.  It  is  nearly  equidistant  from 
Lake  Geneva,  Delavan  and  Elkhorn,  and  its  dome  can  be  seen  from  the  south- 
western quarter  of  the  last-named  city.  Its  latitude  is  420  34'  12.64";  its 
longitude  5I1.  54  m.  13.64  sec.  or  88°  ^y  18.6"  from  Greenwich  observatory. 
The  site  of  the  building  is  one  thousand  and  fifty  feet  above  sea  level  and 
about  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet  above  the  level  of  Geneva  Lake. 

Mr.  Hale  visited  the  greater  observatories  of  both  hemispheres  before 
determining  his  own  plans  and  derived  some  especially  useful  suggestions 
from  the  buildings  and  equipments  at  Mount  Hamilton  and  at  Potsdam, 
Prussia.  The  form  of  the  building  is  cross-shaped,  with  head  to  eastward, 
its  longer  dimension  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet,  ending,  westward, 
in  the  great  dome,  ninety-two  feet  in  diameter.  The  centers  of  the  smaller 
domes,  at  the  arm-ends,  are  one  hundred  and  forty-four  feet  apart.  The 
style  is  described  as  Romanesque.  The  outer  walls  are  of  brown  Roman 
brick  and  terra  cotta.  The  equipment  is  adapted  to  a  wide  range  of  astro- 
physical  work,  perhaps  the  whole  range  of  astronomical  investigation.  Be- 
sides the  great  telescope  of  forty-inch  aperture,  there  is  one  of  twenty-four 
inch  and  one  of  twelve-inch  aperture;  there  is,  apparently,  a  full  furnishing 
of  apparatus  for  photographic,  spectroscopic,  spectroheliographic  and  what- 
ever other  processes  men  of  this  century  may  use  for  their  prying  into  the 
visible  and  invisible  contents  of  "nature's  infinite  book  of  secrecy."  The 
cost  of  ground,  buildings  and  apparatus  is  estimated  at  four  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars. 

The  first  successful  measurements  of  star  heat  were  made  at  this  insti- 
tution in  the  summers  of  1898  and  T900,  and  a  long  and  valuable  record 
is  already  made  of  photographic  observations  of  sun  and  stars.  Results  of 
these  and  other  investigations  are  published  in  bonk  form  and  as  contributions 
to  scientific  journals.  Among  these  publications  arc  "The  Study  of  Stellar 
Evolution,"  bv  Prof.  Hale:  "Researches  in  Stellar   Photometry,"  bv    Prof. 


l6o  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Parkhurst;  "The  Rotation  Period  of  the  Sun,"  by  Profs.  Hale  and  Fox;  and 
two  volumes  entitled  "Publications  of  the  Yerkes  Observatory";  Vol.  I, 
pp.  296,  "A  General  Catalogue  of  One  Thousand  Two  Hundred  and  Ninety 
Double  Stars  Discovered  from  1S71  to  1890,"  by  Prof.  Burnham;  Vol.  2, 
pp.  413,  papers  by  Profs.  Barnard,  Burnham,  Frost,  Hale,  Parkhurst  and 
others.  The  observatory  contains  more  than  three  thousand  volumes  and 
about  the  same  number  of  pamphlets,  and  receives  eighty  scientific  magazines 
and  journals. 

No  time  is  found  available  for  permitting  visitors  to  look  through  the 
telescopes,  but  two  or  three  hours  are  given  each  Saturday  to  visitors  for 
seeing,  under  the  instruction  of  a  staff  member,  the  instruments  and  their 
working.  Each  year  several  thousand  visitors  are  received  and  go  away 
wondering.  The  observatory  staff  is  composed  of  the  following  named 
persons  : 

Edwin  B.  Frost,  professor  of  astrophysics  and  director. 

Sherburne  \Y.  Burnham,  professor  of  practical  astronomy. 

Edward  E.  Barnan  1.  professor  of  practical  astronomy. 

John  A.  Parkhurst.  instructor  in  practical  astronomy. 

Storrs  B.  Barrett,  secretary  and  librarian. 

Philip  Fox,  instructor  in  astrophysics. 

Oliver  J.  Lee,  computer. 

Mary  R.  Calvert,  computer. 

Mary  F.  Wentworth,  stenographer! 

Frank  R.  Sullivan,  engineer  in  charge  of  forty-inch  telescope. 

Oscar  E.  Romare,  instrument  maker. 

Henry  J.  Foote,  carpenter. 

Wilfred  Beguelin,  lantern  slides. 

Diedrich  J.  Oetjen,  day  engineer. 

Louis  F.  Clay,  night  engineer. 

Astronomers  from  other  institutions  often  pass  the  summer  there,  as 
volunteer  assistants  in  research. 

STATE  SCHOOL   FOB  'I'll  E  DEAF. 

In  [843  Increase  V  Lapham,  of  Milwaukee,  whose  various  services  to 
science  are  not  yel  ungratefull)  forgotten,  wrote  to  Moses  McCure  Strong, 
then  president  of  the  Territorial  Council,  asking  him  to  lay  before  that  body 
for  its  consideration  and  favorable  action  a  draft  of  resolutions  which,  in 
effect,  petitioned  Congress  for  an  appropriation  of  public  land  in  aid  of  in- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  l6l 

stitutions  for  the  instruction  of  deaf  and  blind  children,  and  for  the  care  of 
the  insane.  The  Legislature  duly  memorialized  Congress,  but  w  ithout  result. 
Ebenezer  Chesebro,  an  early  settler  of  the  town  of  Darien,  had  a  daugh- 
ter who  was  born  deaf  and  thus  "wisdom  at  one  entrance  quite  shut  out." 
Ariadne  had  received  some  instruction  at  a  New  York  school  for  the  deaf. 
Her  father,  in  1850,  induced  Miss  Wealthy  Hawes,  then  of  Magnolia,  in  Rock 
county,  to  come  to  his  house  and  continue  the  girl's  education.  A  neighbor's 
son,  James  A.  Dudley,  then  aged  twelve  years,  found  here,  for  him,  a  golden 
opportunity.  These  two  continued  their  study,  the  next  year,  under  John  A. 
Mills,  a  graduate  of  the  Xew  York  institution.  Four  years  later  these  two 
pioneer  teachers  became  man  and  wife,  and  both  were  employed  at  the  state 
school,  he  as  teacher,  she  as  assistant  matron.  The  little  class  at  Mr.  Chese- 
bro's  house  increased  to  eight  pupils,  but  was  soon  suspended  for  want  of 
funds.  The  six  later  pupils  were  Clarissa  B.  Kingman,  of  Darien.  Washing- 
ton Farrer.  of  Summerville,  Rock  county,  with  Abraham,  Betsey,  Charles 
and  Helen  Hewes,  of  Eagle.  Mr.  Chesebro's  feeling  was  too  deep  and  strong 
and  his  mind  too  beneficently  active  to  let  the  school  drop  and  become  one 
more  matter  fi  ir  sterile  regret.  About  one  hundred  citizens  of  the  county 
joined  him  in  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  of  1852  for  the  establishment  of 
at  least  one  school  in  Wisconsin  for  instruction  of  deaf  children.  Thanks  to 
the  merit  of  the  proposition  in  itself  and  to  Assemblyman  Barlow's  effective 
presentation  of  its  justice  and  expediency.  Governor  Farwell's  signature, 
April  19,  1S52,  made  the  bill  to  incorporate  the  Wisconsin  Institute  for  the 
Education  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  a  law.  The  site  was  to  be  at  or  near  the 
village  of  Delavan.  Nine  trustees  were  appointed,  one-third  of  the  board  re- 
newable each  year.  This  number  was  reduced  about  1870  to  five,  and  in 
1881  the  board  was  abolished,  its  functions  having  been  transferred  to  the 
state  board  of  supervision.  This  body  succeeded  the  older  board  of  state 
charities  and  reform  and  is  now  known  as  the  slate  board  of  control.  For  ;i 
few  years  the  trustees  were  chosen  from  the  county;  but,  with  increase  of  the 
school's  importance  to  the  state  came  representation  of  other  parts  <>\  the 
State.     The  trustees  resident  of  the    comity  were: 

William  Cheney  Allen Delavan 1852-62,  63-7] 

James  Aram Delavan 1872-75 

Joseph  Baker Sharon '857-58 

Alanson  Hamilton  Barnes Delavan 1861-73 

Chauncey  Betts Delavan 1854-65 

(11) 


1 62 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Dr.  Orrin  Willard  Blanchard Delavar 1854- 

Ebenezer  Chesebro Darien 1852- 

Edward  P.  Conrick Delavan 1858- 

Nicholas  Montgomery  Harrington ....  Delavan 1854- 

Dr.  Henderson  Hunt Delavan 1852- 

William  W'illard  Isham Delavan 1857-69,  jy 

Saniuel  Rees  LaBar Delavan 1876- 

Rev.  Phipps  Waldo  Lake '.  .  .Walworth 1852- 

Hollis  Latham Elkhorn 1858- 

Chester  Deming  Long Darien 1860- 

Dr.  Thomas  M.  Martin Delavan 1862- 

James  Alexander  Maxwell Walworth 1852- 

Dr.  Clarkson  Miller Lake  Geneva 1858- 

Dr.  Jesse  Carr  Mills Elkhorn 1852- 

Joseph  D.  Monell,  Jr Delavan 1854- 

Timothy  Mower East  Troy 1858- 

Franklin  Kelsey  Phoenix Delavan 1852- 

Albert  Salisbury Whitewater 1880- 

Wyman  Spooner Elkhorn 1852- 

Salmon  Thomas Darien *853- 

<  id  irge  G.  Williams Whitewater 1852 


57 
54 
61 
70 
?8 

7" 
81 

56 
81 
72 

65 
54 
61 

56 
58 
63 
•54 

81 

S3 
S8 
54 


NON-RESIDENT    TRUSTEES. 


\\  inchell    I  '.    Bacon Waukesha 1 

Henry  L.  Blood Appleton 1 

Rev.  Aaron  L.  Chapin Beloit   (  College)    1 

1  Histin  G.  Cheever   Clinti >n 1 

Samuel  Collins Yorkville 1 

Martin  Field Mukwonago 1 

Joseph  Hamilton Milwaukee    1 

Edward  D.  Holton Milwaukee 1 

I  [arrison  Reed ( )slil«>sh 1 

\ II uri  Salisbury Whitewater 1 

Moses  McCure  Strong Mineral  Point 1 

John  I-'..  Thomas  Sheboygan  Falls 1 

Mi    J.  I'..  Whiting lanesville t 


869-72 
868-78 
870-76 
875-81 
859-60 
859-62 

875-78 
879-81 
856-58 
879  8] 
856-58 

^74-77 
869-72 


Some  of  these  trustees  of  the  county  and  <>i  the  state  at  large,  at  their 
!    visits,    found   more  or  less   personal   interest   in   the   pupils,    making 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 63 

them  feel  that  the  state,  while  performing  its  duty  in  instructing  them,  had 
also  parental  care  for  each  one's  comfort  and  happiness.  President  Chapin 
addressed  them  in  their  signs,  wisely  and  profitably,  and  left  them  with  a 
truer  understanding  of  their  relations  with  that  larger  world  from  which 
they  had  seemed  so  harshly  cut  off. 

The  state's  appropriations  in  1852  were  one  thousand  dollars  for  build- 
ing and  five  hundred  dollars  for  a  year's  conduct  of  the  school.  Dr.  Joseph 
R.  Bradway,  of  Delavan,  was  appointed  principal  and  John  A.  Mills  teacher. 
Franklin  K.  Phoenix,  the  only  son  of  the  founder  of  Delavan,  himself  a 
youthful  pioneer,  gave  nearly  twelve  acres  of  the  highland  beyond  the  outlet 
of  Delavan  Lake,  now  the  west  end  of  the  city,  lying  north  of  the  Tanesville 
road,  an  extension  of  Walworth  avenue.  About  twenty-three  acres  were 
bought  a  few  years  later.  The  first  building  was  of  brick,  two  stories  high, 
and  was  part  of  a  larger  plan.  It  gave  room  for  thirty-five  pupils.  When 
finished,  in  1857,  the  main  building  was  of  three  stories,  its  cost  about  thirty 
thousand  dollars.  To  this  a  sufficient  workshop  and  a  barn  were  added  at 
some  further  cost.  On  the  morning  of  September  16,  1879,  tne  main  build- 
ing was  burned  to  the  ground.  For  several  months  thereafter  temporary 
quarters  for  the  children  were  found  in  the  remaining  buildings  and  in  one  of 
the  churches  of  Delavan.  A  change  of  site  was  proposed  and  urged  by  a 
few  newspapers  at  Milwaukee  and  elsewhere — each  as  in  duty  and  honor 
bound  preferring  its  own  city  as  the  heaven-appointed  though  thus  far  man- 
neglected  home  for  the  wards  of  the  state.  There  was  probably  but  one  judg- 
ment or  feeling  among  the  men  and  women  of  Walworth  and  this  was 
promptly  and  fairly  well  expressed  two  days  after  the  fire  by  the  newspaper 
at  F.lkhom  in  the  following  editorial  comment : 

"It  is  believed  and  hoped  that  the  location  of  the  school  will  not  be  changed 
from  Delavan.  but  that  the  new  building  will  be  located  on  the  site  of  the  old 
one.  The  school  has  passed  through  many  ordeals,  recently,  but  it  was  pros- 
perous in  a  high  degree  when  this  calamity  came  upon  it,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
every  citizen  of  Walworth  county  will  feel  an  anxiety  to  have  it  re-established 
on  its  old  foundations  and  under  present  management." 

At  the  legislative  session  of  1880  Assemblyman  Barnes  (a  well-chosen 
member  for  the  task  in  hand)  looked  effectively  to  the  greater  good  of  the  in- 
stitute and  to  the  smaller  interest  of  Delavan,  and  the  sum  of  seventy  thou- 
sand dollars  was  appropriated  for  re-building.  Thus,  one  more  phoenix 
arose  from  its  own  ashes  with  youth  and  vigor  renewed.  (Had  the  institute 
been  burned  and  re-built  otherwhere  than  at  Delavan  the  cruelly  over-worked 
Arabian  bird  need  not  have  done  service  here.)      Besides  the  administration 


164  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN'. 

(main)  building,  a  school  house,  chapel,  dining  hall  and  dormitory  were  pro- 
vided for  the  growing  needs.  The  establishment  is  sufficient  for  the  full 
care  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pupils.  The  yearly  expense  is  from  fifty  thou- 
sand to  sixty  thousand  dollars.  The  total  expense  since  1852  has  been  about 
two  million  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

A  statute  of  1858  required  payment  of  seventy-five  dollars  for  each  pupil, 
but  it  so  operated  to  restrict  materially  the  usefulness  of  the  school  that  it  was 
soon  repealed.  A  similar  ill-advised  statute  was  enacted  in  1867,  and  this, 
too,  was  soon  repealed.  The  Civil  war  seriously  affected  legislative  liberality, 
and  the  teachers  were  the  most  direct  sufferers.  In  June,  1861,  a  class  of 
five  pupils  was  graduated  with  the  full  formalities  or  ceremonies  of  such  oc- 
casions at  other  institutions.  Miss  Emily  Eddy,  the  first  woman  employed 
as  teacher,  in  1868  began  her  experiments  in  speech-teaching.  As.  early  as 
1861  she  had  observed  some,  to  her,  suggestive  facts  as  to  pupils 
who,  from  disease  or  accident,  had  become  deaf,  and  she  patiently  and  in- 
geniously evolved  methods  of  her  own  by  which  to  teach  these  children  to 
speak  with  their  lips  and  to  hear  with  their  eyes.  In  1868  Miss  Harriet 
B.  Rogers,  a  teacher  of  this  art  in  a  Massachusetts  institution,  visited  the 
school  at  Delavan.  From  her  Miss  Eddy  received  that  summer  a  short  couse 
of  instruction  by  which  she  so  profited  that  hundreds  of  pupils  have  since 
found  reason  to  remember  these  two  women  with  more  than  common  grati- 
tude. At  a  later  time  Miss  Eddy  brought  some  improvement  of  teacher- 
method  from  the  institution  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  It  is  said  that  Wiscon- 
sin and  Illinois  were  earliest  of  the  states  of  the  old  Northwest  to  adopt  this 
branch  of  mute-instruction. 

The  school  year  of  forty  weeks  begins  the  first  Wednesday  of  Sep- 
tember T11  the  usual  instruction  in  writing,  reading,  composition,  arithmetic, 
geography,  natural  science  and  drawing.  with  oral  speech  ami 
lip-reading  to  semi-mutes  and  capable  congenita]  mutes,  is  added  manual 
training.  Cabinet  making  began  in  i860,  shoe-making  in  1867,  printing  in 
[878  ami  baking  in  1 SS 1 .  Girls  are  also  taught  housekeeping,  baking  ami 
sewing,  U>ou1  [879  began  the  publication  of  the  Deaf-Mute  Press,  a  home 
organ  of  the  teachers  and  pupils.  About  [882  it-  name  was  changed  to 
Deaf-Mute  Times,  ami  aboul  [896  il  became  the  Wisconsin  Titties.  Its  edi- 
torial work  has  always  been  from  fair  In  excellent,  and  it-  mechanical  appear- 
ance creditable  to  foreman  and  printers.  In  [906  Prof.  Warren  Robinson 
took  a  bolder  step,  and  put  forth  the  American  Industrial  Journal,  an  illus- 
trated :  1  year  magazine,  "in  the  interesl  of  the  industrial  depart- 
ments "i  schools  For  the  deaf  ami  the  deaf  themselves  throughout  the  world." 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 65 

This  is  said  to  be  the  only  such  publication  in  the  world.  Its  number  for  De- 
cember, 1910,  indicates  its  temporary,  if  not  permanent  discontinuance  for 
want  of  sufficient  support.  The  editor,  who  speaks,  but  does  not  hear,  has 
acquired  a  mastery  of  the  art  of  expression  in  pure,  plain  English  words 
and  clearly- formed  sentences,  seldom  met  in  modern  newspaper  work,  and 
at  least  one  of  his  contributors  has  profited  similarly  from  judicious  teaching. 

Miss  Anna  Johnson,  a  blind  mute  (one  of  three  at  this  school),  now 
about  twenty- four  years  old,  tells  in  simple,  faultless  phrases  some  of  the  in- 
cidents of  her  silent,  darkened  life.  The  short  story  is  interesting  and  suf- 
ficiently moving,  though  in  nowise  an  appeal  for  sympathy,  and  its  style  is 
for  its  purpose  admirable.  A  school  which  does  such  work  as  this  well  de- 
serves the  state's,  support  and  encouragement,  even  if  its  opportunities  for 
such  work  were  still  less  frequent.  Miss  Johnson's  case  is  not  that  of  Laura 
Bridgman.  nor  of  Helen  Keller,  since  she  lost  her  sight  at  twelve  and  her 
hearing  at  fourteen.  "For  three  years  I  lived  in  darkness  and  it  was  very 
much  like  a  prison;  for  no  one  seemed  to  recognize  me,  and  as  I  could  not 
see  or  hear  enough  to  help  myself,  everything  around  me  was  silent."  In 
19x14  she  was  sent  to  the  school  at  Delavan,  but  sickness  so  far  interrupted 
that  but  four  years  have  been  profitable  for  instruction.  She  had  learned  at 
home  to  sew  and  knit,  and  has  since  learned  to  use  the  Braille  writer  ( for 
the  use  of  blind  persons),  and  now  finds  it  easy  to  use  the  Remington  and 
other  typewriters,  and  also  the  Singer  sewing  machine,  with  its  various  at- 
tachments— threading  her  needles  and  regulating  her  work  with  ease.  She 
has  read  many  books  for  the  blind,  but  most  enjoys  the  "Life  of  Helen  Kel- 
ler." A  few  of  her  own  words  may  show  this  young  woman'-  unconquer- 
able spirit : 

"To  be  deprived  of  sight  and  hearing  is  not  so  great  a  misfortune  to 
those  who  are  so  afflicted  as  it  may  seem.  A  blind-deal"  person  can  be  just  as 
happy  as  one  who  has  his  perfect  sight  and  hearing.  No  one  can  im- 

agine how  happy  I  have  been  since  1  learned  to  sew.  I  can  sit  alone  in  the 
dark  or  light  with  my  sewing  and  be  as  happy  as  any  queen.  Low  many 
happy  thoughts  1  have  now  when  1  am  making  something  for  a  friend  or  for 
my  sisters  or  mother.  *  *  *  When  I  can  be  among  the  flowers  and  Irees 
1   am   perfectly  happy.  *     There   is   always   something   which   can 

amuse  a  blind-deaf  person  and  add  much  to  make  his  life  like  that  of  a 
person  with  sight," — and  more  in  like  cheer)  strain. 

The  average  attendance  at  the  school  is  now  aboul  two  hundred  pupils. 
The  whole  number,  since  t*5_\  is  about  eighteen  hundred.  Until  r88o  the 
head  of  the  school  was  designated  as  the  principal.     Since  that  year  he  is 


l66  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

known   as   superintendent.      The    following   official    list   shows    several    long 
periods  of  service  there. 

PRINCIPALS. 

Dr.  Joseph   R.   Bradway 1852-  3  Dr.  Henry  W.  Milligan...  1865-68 

Rev.  Lucius  Foote 1853-  4  Edward  Collins  Stone....  1868-71 

Horatio  Nelson  Hubbell  (acting)    1854  George  Ludington  Weed. .  1871-75 

Louis    Henry    Jenkins 1854-6  William  Henry  DeMotte.  .  1875-80 

John    Scott   Officer 1856-65 

SUPERINTENDENTS. 

John  W.  Swiler 1880     Elmer  Warren  Walker 1903 

.Charles  P.  Cary 1901 

No  subordinate  at  this  school  may  hope  to  reach  its  superintendency. 
Time  has  shown  the  usefulness  of  this  limit  to  promotion.  But  from  its 
teachers  have  been  drawn  chief  officers  for  similar  schools  of  other  states. 

STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL. 

The  board  of  regents  in  May,  1866.  chose  a  site  at  Whitewater  for  the 
second  of  the  state  normal  schools,  this,  after  having  exacted  from  the  vil- 
lage a  bonus  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  Two  members  of  the  building 
committee  were  Newton  M.  Littlejohn  and  Samuel  A.  White,  the  first  then 
a  state  senator  and  the  other  a  regent.  The  school  was  opened  and  dedicated 
April  21,  1868,  and  enlarged  in  1870,  1881  and  1897.  The  area  of  its  ground 
is  ten  acres,  rising  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six  feet  above  sea  level  and 
sixty-six  feet  above  the  ground  at  the  railway  station.  It  has  been  planted 
with  more  than  a  hundred  species  and  varieties  of  trees  and  shrubs,  largely 
under  direction  of  the  late  President  Salisbury.  Thus  Normal  Hill,  as  seen 
from  its  foot  and  from  afar,  has  become  as  fair  to  look  upon  as  a  vice-regal 
country  seat. 

This  institution,  one  of  eight  such  parts  of  the  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion, has.  like  them,  the  full  equipment  of  similar  schools  in  other  states.  It 
employs  twenty-six  teachers  including  those  in  the  training  schools.  Its 
valuable  library  has  more  than  fifteen  thousand  volumes.  Since  1870  the 
school  has  graduated  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty  pupils,  of  whom 
aboul   ninety  seven   per  rent,   have  since  done  teachers'  work. 

The  men  whose  influence  upon  their  fellow  citizens  secured  this  school 
for  their  village  builded  no  better  than  they  knew,  for  they  acted  in  the  full 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  T67 

light  of  observation,  experience,  sound  judgment,  and  true  public  spirit,  and 
thus  kept  step  in  the  march  of  American  civilization.  Greater  benefit  has  thus 
come  to  Whitewater  than  the  profits  to  retail  dealers  and  boarding-house 
keepers.  The  whole  county,  too,  and  the  adjacent  towns  in  Jefferson  and 
Rock  have  some  appreciable  share  in  this  greater  gain,  as  many  a  poor  man 
and  his  child  well  knows. 

The  presidents  of  the  school  have  been:  Oliver  Arey,  1868-77;  William 
F.  Phelps,  1877-9;  J°hn  William  Stearns,  1879  to  January,  1885;  Theron  B. 
Pray,  January  to  June,  1885;  Albert  Salisbury,  July,  1885,  to  his  last  sick- 
ness and  death  in  191 1. 

Mr.  Arey  died  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  December  13,  1907.  Mr.  Stearns 
passed  to  a  chair  in  the  State  University,  that  of  theory  and  art  of  teaching. 

Albert  Salisbury  was  born  at  Lima,  Rock  county,  January  24,  1843; 
died  at  Milwaukee  June  2.  1911.  His  early  life  throws  some  light  on  his 
later  career.  He  was  bred  to  farm  work ;  served  in  war  time  in  a  regiment 
that  never  rested;  finished  his  college  course  at  Milton  in  1870;  conducted 
*  teachers'  institutes  from  1873 ;  superintended  and  inspected  schools  in  the 
Cotton  states,  for  the  American  Missionary  Association  from  1882;  and  be- 
gan his  presidency  at  Whitewater  in  1885.  All  that  he  was  by  natural  en- 
dowment and  by  acquisition,  the  total  sum  of  which  was  enough  to  warrant 
at  least  a  moderately  high-aiming  ambition,  he  gave  wholly  to  the  plain  duty 
before  him.  Most  of  the  graduates  of  Whitewater  passed  under  his  master- 
ship and  guidance,  and  to  most  of  them  those  brief  years  were  the  most  profit- 
bearing  of  their  lives.  He  had  much  of  that  collateral  know  ledge  which  gives 
its  own  value  to  every  man's  work,  but  he  cared  more  to  know  a  few  things 
and  understand  them  thoroughly  and  comprehensively.  He  could  admire  a 
superficially  brilliant  man  without  envying  him.  In  or  out  of  school,  honest 
endeavor  and  modest  worth  were  unlikely  to  escape  his  notice  and  surely  en- 
listed his  sympathy.  He  took  ground  early,  with  tongue  and  pen,  for  free 
text  books  for  township  high  schools,  for  free  carriage  of  pupils  to  and  from 
their  district  schools,  for  everything  that  in  theory  was  desirable  and  by 
wisely  considered  and  carefully  conducted  experiment  had  been  shown  else- 
where practical  and  beneficial.  His  feeling  was  deeply  moved  in  behalf  of 
children  whom  poverty  deprives  of  their  share  in  public  instruction,  and  he 
talked  often  and  well  of  the  state's  duty  to  see  that  their  right  be  not  taken 
from  them  without  their  fault.  To  have  known  him  as  a  friend  was  a  goodly 
thing  and  is  now  a  pleasant  memory.  To  have  known  him  as  a  teacher  was 
great  good  fortune.  He  helped  to  make  histor)  for  the  county,  lie  has  be- 
come rightly  a  part  of  tin-  county's  history.. 


l68  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

MILITARY   ACADEMY. 

A  fourth  institution,  of  great  importance  to  American  parents  and  sons, 
but  not  of  Walworth's  creation  or  maintenance,  is  likely  to  come  within  a 
year  or  two.  It  is  proposed  to  transfer  the  Northwestern  Military  Academy 
from  Highland  Park,  Illinois,  to  the  shore  of  Geneva  lake,  at  the  place  long 
known  as  Kaye's  Park,  in  the  town  of  Linn.  The  managers  have  secured  the 
option  of  buying  forty  acres  of  land,  having  one  thousand  feet  of  lake  front- 
age. This  situation  is  very  convenient  for  such  instruction  in  naval  exercises 
as  is  useful  for  soldiers;  and,  if  found  expedient,  for  a  department  of  the 
more  general  naval  instruction.  The  Legislature  of  1911,  by  appropriate  en- 
actment, authorized  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  intoxicant  beverages  within  a 
circle  of  five  miles  radius,  measured  from  this  site  as  its  center. 

The  object  of  this  institution  is  not  only  to  train  citizen-soldiers,  but  also 
to  form  Christian  character  and  develop  manliness ;  and  to  such  ends  the 
discipline  and  instruction  are  directed.  Major  R.  Davidson,  commandant, 
with  his  officers  and  one  hundred  or  more  of  his  pupils,  came  to  this  place  on' 
Memorial  Sunday,  191 1.  He  had  invited  attendance  from  all  the  neighbor- 
ing posts  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  to  take  part  in  the  program 
of  prayer,  band  music,  singing  and  speaking,  and  be  gave  these  survivors  of 
a  half  century  the  place  of  honor  in  the  order  of  marching.  Colonel  Jerome 
A.  Watrous,  a  soldier  of  two  wars,  and  Major  Davidson  explained  the  gen- 
eral purpose  of  the  school,  and  the  cadets  closed  the  day,  at  retreat  call,  with 
a  few  evolutions  on  the  parade  ground.  All  this  will  become  familiar  here 
for  the  needful  work  of  building  is  (in  1012)  about  to  begin. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

WALWORTH    COUNTY    AGRICULTURAL    SOCIETY. 

Within  less  than  fifteen  years  after  the  end  of  the  Pottawattomie  occu- 
pation, a  few  men  of  mind  and  will  and  of  some  weight  in  the  affairs  of  their 
towns,  mainly  farmers  of  the  Troys  and  adjoining  towns,  combined  to  form, 
or  develop,  a  county  agricultural  society,  and  thence  a  yearly  county  fair. 
Most  of  these  men  lived  long  enough — and  worked  as  long  as  they  lived — to 
see  the  infant  enterprise  of  1850  move  in  orderly  progress,  without  halt  or 
backward  step,  to  the  foremost  place  among  similar  societies  of  the  state.  Of 
these  men  the  names  of  Homer  and  Seymour  Brooks,  Jacob  and  William  Bur- 
git,  Simon  Buel  Edwards  and  Emery  Thayer,  of  East  Troy;  John  Fearnley, 
Albon  Mann  Pern,-  and  Augustus  Smith,  of  Troy;  Sherman  Morgan  Rock- 
wood,  Jesse  Pike  West  and  Stephen  Gano  West,  Sr.,  of  Lafavette;  Perry 
Green  Harrington,  of  Sugar  Creek,  and  Edward  Elderkin,  of  Elkhorn,  are 
preserved.  No  other  record  is  found  of  work  done  previous  to  the  fair  and 
cattle  show  opened  at  East  Troy  October  16,  1850.  The  day  was  showery, 
but  the  attendance  was  encouraging.  The  plowing  matches  were  postponed 
to  the  25th.  Thirty-five  first  premiums,  seventeen  second  premiums,  and 
three  third  premiums  were  awarded.  Of  these,  nineteen  first  premiums  went 
to  citizens  of  East  Troy :  William  Bates,  James  Booker,  Tosiah  F.  Brooks 
(3).  Homer  Brooks  (2),  Jacob  Burgit,  S.  Buel  Edwards,  Charles  Hillard, 
Cephas  Hurlburt,  Mrs.  John  A.  Larkin,  S.  McNair.  Michael  O'Regan,  Joel 
Pond,  Elijah  Pound.  Walter  A.  Taylor.  Emery  Thayer  (2).  To  men  of 
Troy,  five  first  premiums ;  Hiram  Brew  ster,  William  Lumb,  John  J.  ( >lds.  I'aris 
Pettit,  Augustus  Smith.  Other  first  premiums  were  awarded  to  Franklin 
Kelsey  Phoenix,  of  Delavan ;  Charles  W.  Smedley,  of  Hudson ;  William 
Child,  of  Lafayette:  James  Lauderdale,  of  Lagrange.  Mr.  Phoenix  displayed 
twenty-five  varieties  of  apples  and  a  noteworthy  entry-  of  garden  stuff. 
Josiah  F.  Brooks  sold  two  bulls,  brought  from  New  York,  one  at  two  hundred 
and  ten  dollars,  the  other  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

The  officers  of  this  fair  were  Augustus  Smith,  president,  and  Seymour 
Brooks,  secretary.  Before  dispersing,  the  members  chose  officers  and  man- 
agers for  the  coming  year.  In  April,  185 1,  a  meeting  was  held  at  Elkhorn, 
and  the  whole  county  was  brought  explicitly  within  range  of  the  society's 


IJO  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

activities.  A  premium  list  was  made,  and  the  fair  appointed  at  Elkhorn, 
October  14th  and  15th.  The  society  met  in  the  evening  of  the  15th  for 
adoption  of  a  constitution  and  election  of  officers  and  three  managers,  all  to 
act  as  an  executive  committee.  Article  eight,  of  the  constitution,  fixed  the 
place  of  holding  the  fair  at  Elkhorn.  But  in  1853  it  was  held  at  Delavan. 
Article  nine  prescribed  the  fast  evening  of  each  fair  as  the  time  for  electing 
officers.     In  1852  the  number  of  managers  became  five. 

August  19.  1853,  Samuel  Pratt  resigned  as  manager  and  Colonel  Elder- 
kin  was  chosen  in  Ins  stead.  Mr.  Hollinshead  moved,  and  it  was  ordered,  to 
hold  the  fair  at  Delavan,  Sepi ember  23d  and  24th.  A  committee  of  arrange- 
ments for  this  purpose  was  appointed,  all  of  Delavan  town  and  villager 
Aaron  H.  Taggart,  Ira  P.  Larnard,  Charles  T.  Smith,  William  Hollinshead, 
Jonathan  Williams,  Cyrus  Brainard.  David  Williams  was  made  marshal, 
with  Dr.  Norman  L.  Gaston  and  Nicholas  M.  Harrington  as  assistants.  Sep- 
tember 23d,  election  of  officers.  Ordered  that  executive  committee  procure 
one  or  more  competent  persons  to  address  the  people  on  one  of  the  fair  days. 

September  2j,  1855,  the  constitution  was  so  amended  as  to  require  nine 
managers,  besides  the  four  principal  officers.  September  11,  1856,  Hon. 
James  R.  Doolittle,  of  Racine,  delivered  the  annual  address. 

September  25,  1857,  the  members  of  the  society  met  in  accordance  with 
article  nine,  of  its  constitution,  and  passed  the  following  resolution :  "That 
the  election  of  officers  of  this  society  be  postponed  till  the  first  Wednesday  in 
January,  1858,  and  at  that  time  said  election  shall  be  held  in  the  court  house 
at  Elkhorn." 

January  6,  1858,  Treasurer  Hodges  reported  as  the  receipts  of  the  fair 
of  1X57  the  sum  of  eight  hundred  thirty-nine  dollars  and  fifty-five  cents.  The 
amount  on  hand  after  paying  premiums  was  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
dollars.  Land  had  been  bought  of  Colonel  Elderkin  in  1855  for  a  permanent 
fair  ground  on  a  time  contract  running  ten  years,  with  interest  at  ten  per 
cent.  This  meeting  ordered  payment  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  on  this 
contract.  Colonel  Elderkin  was  directed  to  go  to  Madison  to  collect  for  the 
society  the  state's  yearly  appropriation  of  one  hundred  dollars  in  aid  of 
count)  fairs,  then  amounting  to  two  hundred  dollars.  If  allowed  and  paid, 
the  sum  \va>  to  he  applied  to  payment  for  land-  If  nut  collected,  he  was  to 
draw  a  suitable  memorial,  asking  the  Legislature  fur  relief.  Wyman 
Spooner,  Horatio  S.  Winsor  and  Edward  Elderkin  were  appointed  to  examine 
:  titution  and  records  to  find  if  the  societj  was  so  organized  as  to  enable 
n  1-  hold  real  estate,  ami  they  were  directed  to  reporl  at  the  nexl  meeting. 
Mr.  Elderkin,  then  one  ol  the  secretaries,  was  ordered  to  l>u\  a  record  hook 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  I7I 

and  transcribe  therein  the  constitution,  by-laws,  and  the  whole  record  of  the 
society's  proceedings.  The  acts  of  the  annual  meetings  of  the  society  and  of 
its  several  executive  committees  for  sixty  years,  as  recorded,  have  not  yet 
filled  the  book  thus  begun  by  Colonel  Elderkin,  though  it  is  not  an  unusually 
large  one  of  its  kind.  Its  contents  hardly  present  more  than  a  fairly  traceable 
outline  of  the  society's  history  and  rate  of  growth. 

This  is  in  part  explained  by  the  fact  that  in  this,  as  in  many  organiza- 
tions for  other  purposes,  it  has  been  found  convenient  to  add  many  executive 
functions  to  the  secretary's  duty  as  a  recorder  of  proceedings  in  session  of 
society  and  committee.  For  many  years  following  1865  this  so  variously 
useful  officer  has  seemed  to  persons  outside  of  the  management  to  combine 
in  himself  the  executive,  legislative  and  judicial  power  of  the  society.  The 
later  creation  of  minor  superintendencies  has  not  made  the  secretary's  duties 
much  less  diversified.  For  many  years  the  officers  were  paid  little  or  nothing 
above  their  expenses.  The  secretary  now  receives  $400,  the  treasurer  $250, 
the  president  $100  (by  act  of  the  session  of  191 1).  the  superintendent  of 
privileges  $75,  the  marshal  $40.  Members  of  executive  committee  are  paid 
for  one  day's  service,  two  dollars  each.  The  working  force,  other  than  those 
just  mentioned,  at  the  last  fair  was  160  persons:  Under  the  superintendent 
of  the  ground,  12;  police,  29:  treasurer's  office,  18;  secretary's  office,  8;  at 
gates  and  amphitheater,  23;  in  floral  hall,  22;  in  speed' department,  14:  judges 
for  premium  awards,  34.  Their  total  pay,  $1,355.71.  Since  the  fair  of 
1909  there  was  paid  to  laborers  and  repairers  employed  in  care  of  the  ground, 
in  the  course  of  one  year,  $629.10;  for  permanent  improvements,  $77^-37; 
for  insurance,  $233'.75-  The  total  receipt  for  1910  was  $19,147.73,  of  which 
sum  $293.79  was  ^e  balance  on  hand  from  1909,  and  $2,200  was  received 
from  the  state  treasury  pursuant  to  provisions  of  statute  in  aid  of  county 
fairs.  In  January,  191 1,  the  unpaid  liabilities  amounted  to  $65.62.  These 
paid,  and  the  state's  aid  received  (usually  in  February),  the  society  sets  out 
for  the  year  with  $3,404.40.  The  sum  of  trotting  purses  paid  was  $4,760; 
sum  of  premiums  paid,  $4,072.75. 

The  fair  of  185  1  was  held  along  Church  street,  south  of  the  park,  south- 
western part  of  the  village.  One  or  more  fairs  were  held  on  the  park,  [n 
1855  the  society  began  to  buy  land  for  a  permanent  fair  ground.  The  place 
chosen  was  (and  is)  well  within  the  village  limits,  in  one  of  the  Elderkin 
additions,  a  few  rods  from  the  point  at  which  the  Spring  Prairie  road  meets 
Court  street.  The  certainty  that  the  railway,  then  building  from  Racine  to- 
ward Sunset,  would  reach  Elkhorn  within  the  next  year  had  some  el'lVd  on 
Colonel  Blderkin's  mind  as  to  the  coming  values  of  village  real  estate  though 


172  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

he  stopped  a  little  short  of  extravagance  in  his  valuation  of  the  six  acres  sold 
to  the  society.  He  let  it  go  at  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre,  giving  ten  years 
for  payment,  and  accepting  ten  per  cent  interest.  The  society  now  owns  and 
occupies  a  fraction  more  than  thirty-nine  acres.  About  fifty  or  sixty  rods 
further  northeastward  the  branch  railway  to  Eagle,  curving  along  the  eastern 
side  of  the  ground,  crosses  the  highway  at  an  acute  angle.  It  seems  the  so- 
ciety's manifest  destiny  to  acquire  this  triangular  space — about  six  and  one- 
half  acres — within  a  few  months  or  years.  By  two  extensions  southward  the 
old  village  cemetery,  having  been  vacated  by  special  statute,  was  added,  giving 
a  Court  street  frontage  of  twenty-two  rods.  A  few  groups  of  second-growth 
oaks  and  other  trees  give  a  parklike  effect  to  this  part  of  the  ground,  and  a 
few  lawn  seats  make  it  at  present  an  attractive  resting  place  for  tired  visitors. 

During  the  four  days  of  the  fair  the  railway  supplies  special  trains,  and 
the  attendance,  gathering  from  distant  counties  of  Wisconsin  and  Illinois, 
has  been  computed  variously  at  from  twenty  thousand  to  thirty  thousand. 
When  the  fair  week  falls  in  dry  weather,  as  it  usually  does,  the  dust-laden 
air  along  the  several  highways  of  the  county,  to  one  who  has  seen  this  sign 
of  great  armies  in  motion,  is  a  reminder  of  the  summer  campaigns  of  the 
Civil  war.  For  most  of  the  morning  hours  the  procession  of  vehicles  headed 
for  the  white  city  inclines  one  to  wonder  if  anybody  stays  at  home  in  this 
holiday  week. 

In  [879  Henry  G.  Hollister.  vice-president  for  the  previous  year,  was 
chosen  president  of  the  society,  and,  thereafter,  with  two  exceptions,  such 
order  of  succession  lias  been  the  usage.  The  vice-presidents  thus  declining 
<  >r  passed  over  were  Benjamin  T.  Fowler  in  [884  and  Hiram  S.  Bell  in  1894. 
Ebenezer  Davidson  has,  since  1879.  twice  reached  the  presidency  by  way  of 
the  present  order  of  promotion. 

PRESIDENTS. 

Aldrich.   William  II..   Spring   Prairie , 1900 

\llrn,    Dwighl    Sidney,    Linn 1888 

Allen,  George  R.,  Bloomfield 1885 

Allyn,     Alexander   H..    Delavan 1886 

Babcock,   Walter   E.,   Spring  Prairie 1909 

Blakely,    William,    Darien 1884 

Brewster,  John    M..   Troy 1896 

Briggs,    Merman   A..   Delavan 1891 

Brooks.   Seymour.    Eas1   Troy , 1861 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  I73 


Buell.  Sidney,  Linn 

Clough,   Darwin  P.,  Darien 

Cross,  Hiram,  Lagrange _ 

♦Davidson,   Ebenezer,   Lake  Geneva !893> 

Downs,  Lemuel,  Delavan 

Dunlap,   Charles.   Geneva 1869, 

Dunlap,   William  Penn.   Geneva 

Edgerton,  Stephen  R.,  Lafayette 

Edwards,  Simon  Buell,  East  Troy 

Flack,  David  Lytle,  Geneva 

Foster,  Asa,  Sugar  Creek 

Fulton,  John  L,  Whitewater 

Gibbs,   Charles   R,   Whitewater 

Grier.  James  M.,  Bloomfield 

Grier,  Thomas  H.,  Bloomfield 

*Hare,  Ambrose  B.,   Richmond 

Harrington.  Perry  Green,  Sugar  Creek 1871, 

Hollinshead.  William.  Delavan 1863,   1864, 

Hollister,  Henry  George,  Delavan 

Jeffers,  John,  Sharon 

Johnson,  John   B.,  Darien 

*Knilans,  Williarn  Allen,   Richmond 

Lawson.   Frank  E.,   Walworth 

Lean.  Robert  J.,  Lagrange 

Manor,  Newell   B..   Bloomfield 

Martin,    Charles,    Spring   Prairie 

"Meadows.  John  Greenwood,  Lyons 

Meadows.    William,    Lyons 

Mills,  Dr.  Jesse  Carr,  Lafayette 

Morse,  Frederick  A.,   Whitewater 

Mulaney,  Charles  A.,  East  Troy 

Nichols,   Levi   A.,  Linn 

Pratt.  Orris,  Spring  Prairie 

Preston.  Otis,    Elkhorn 1855,  '58-'6o, 

Reynolds,  James   E..   Troy 

tnour,  Robert  Thompson.  Lafayette 

Smith,   Augustus,   Troy 

Starin,    Henry  J.,   Whitewater 

Stewart,   William   H..    Richmond 


878 
905 
854 
191 
897 
870 

903 
887 
874 

8/3 
877 
907 

NN< , 
890 
904 
910 
872 

81 15 

879 
876 

898 
882 
908 
892 
902 

875 
895 
89] 

853 
899 
906 
90T 
883 

'62 

S.X., 

850 
852 

894 


174  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Wales.   Charles,   Geneva 1867,  1868 

Williams.  David,  Geneva !85i 

Wiswell,  Charles  Harriman,   Sugar  Creek 1912 

*Wylie,  George  Washington,   Lafayette 1866 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Bell,  Hiram  Sears,  Walworth 

Brooks,   Seymour,  East  Troy 

Buell,   Sidney,   Linn   

Cheney,    Rufus  Jr.,   Whitewater ^859 

Derthick,   Walter  George,   Lafayette 

Edwards,  Simon  Buel,  East  Troy 1854,  '55,  '57 

Flack,  David  Lytle.   Geneva 

Fowler,  Benjamin  T..  Lagrange 

Harriman,  Rufus  Dudley,  Lafayette 

Hendri.x.    Wellington,    Lafayette 

Hill,  Thomas  Worden,  Lyons 1867, 

Hollinshead,    William,   Delavan 1852. 

*Hollister,  Uriah  Schutt,  Darien 

Martin,   Charles.   Spring  Prairie 1870. 

Morrison.  William  Henry,  Troy 

Potter,  Robert  Knight,  Lafayette 

Smith.  Augustus,  Troy 

Starin,    Henry   J.,    Whitewater 

Voss,  John  Augustus 

Wales,    Charles,    Geneva 1863,    1864 

Williams,  John.  Darien 

Wiswell,  Charles  Harriman,  Sugar  Creek 

*Wylie,   George  Washington,   Lafayette 

SECRETARIES. 


894 
856 

866 
860 
877 

'73 
871 
884 

875 
869 
868 
862 

874 
872 

876 
850 
851  • 

855 
912 

865 

853 
qn 
861 


Brooks,   Seymour,   East  Troy 1850,    185 1 

Elderkin,  Edward,  Elkhorn 1850,  '51,  '54-'65 

Williams.   David,  Geneva : 1852 

Latham,  llollis,  Elkhorn i852-*54,  '56,  '6i-'68 

Golder,  Peter,  Elkhorn  1853 

Win- ir,   Horatio   Sales,   Elkhorn 18^5 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 75 

Carpenter,    Seth   L.,    Elkhorn 1858 

Frost,  Eli  Kimball,  Sugar  Creek ^59 

Martin,  Charles,  Spring  Prairie i860 

West.  Stephen  Gano,  Elkhorn 1869-1878 

Morrison,   William    Henry,   Troy 1878-1884 

♦Alien,  Levi  E.,  Elkhorn   (from  Sharon) 1885-1890 

*Stratton.   William  James,   Elkhorn 1891,   1892 

Mitchell,  Samuel,  Elkhorn 1893-1896,   1903,   1904 

Harrington,   George   L..   Lafayette 1897-1902 

Norris,  Harley  Cornelius.  Elkhorn 1905-1908 

Porter,  Francis  Maxwell.  Elkhorn 1909-1912 

Until  1866  it  was  usual  to  elect  two  secretaries  sometimes,  assigning  one 
to  the  duty  of  recording  and  the  other  to  the  division  of  correspondence. 
After  Mr.  Carpenter — a  young  lawyer  who  lived  a  few  months  at  Elkhorn — 
Mr.  Latham  served  as  corresponding  secretary-  until  1866,  when  the  two  sec- 
retaryships were  united  in  one  officer. 

TREASURERS. 

Rockwood,    Sherman   Morgan,    Lafayette 1850 

Hodges,  Edwin,  Elkhorn 1851,   1854,   1856-1860 

Golder,   Peter,   Elkhorn   1 1852 

Hollinshead.  William,  Delavan 1853 

Mallory,  Samuel,  Elkhorn 1855 

Brett.  John  Flavel,  Elkhorn 1861-1866 

Rockwell,  Le  Grand,  Elkhorn 1867-1869 

Latham,    Hollis,   Elkhorn 1870-1883 

Lyon.   Wilson  David,   Elkhorn 1884 

Latham.  Le  Grand.  Elkhorn 1885-1897 

♦Brett.  James  Elverton,  Lyons 1898-1911 

John  F.  and  lames  E.  Brett  were  respectively  father  and  son,  as  were 
also  Hollis  and  LeGrand  Latham. 

Names  marked  with  a  *  are  of  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

RELIGIOUS  ORGANIZATIONS PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

Clergymen  and  pious  men  with  gift  of  tongue  and  not  unused  to  leader- 
ship in  prayer  meeting  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Delavan,  Lafayette, 
Spring  Prairie  and  Walworth,  and  perhaps  other  towns,  and  were  not  long 
wanting  in  any  town.  It  has  been  learned  how  Colonel  Phoenix  came  by  his 
military  title.  His  religious  activity  was  even  then  as  manifest  as  his 
energy  in  founding  a  city.  He  prayed,  exhorted  and  preached  at  Delavan 
and  Spring  Prairie  and,  not  unlikely,  at  Elkhorn  and  other  points.  Mr.  Dwin- 
nell  was  nearly  as  early  and  quite  as  zealous  in  this  field  of  labor,  though  he, 
too,  had  his  load  of  secular  cares  as  farmer  and  town  officer.  Their  fellow 
pioneers,  though  not  all  of  them  professors  of  religious  faith,  were  not  gen- 
erally unwilling  to  hear  instruction  and  exhortation;  and  these  preachers  of 
good  tidings  for  a  time  carried  their  messages  through  a  nearly  roadless 
country,  crossed  by  many  bridgeless  streams,  with  the  steadfast  resolution 
and,  if  needful,  high  hardihood  of  the  pioneer  clergy  everywhere  and  always. 

Churches  were  not  an  immediate  need.  Men  and  women  met  for  relig- 
ious communion  in  many  small  assemblies  at  the  larger  cabins,  and  when 
school  houses  appeared  these  were  made  doubly  useful.  In  pleasant  weather 
no  finer  temples  than  the  oaken  groves — nowhere  distant  nor  liable  to  be  over- 
crowded— were  needed  for  the  larger  gatherings.  The  short  pioneer  period, 
"the  first  low  wash  of  waves  where  soon  would  roll  a  human  sea,"  was  fol- 
lowed by  immigration  at  such  increasing  rate  that  co-operative  effort  was  made 
as  available  for  church  building  as  for  more  mundane  enterprise-.  After  [843 
(be  county  board  authorized  the  sheriffs  t<>  lei  the  court  bouse  for  Sunday  use 
of  infant  religious  societies  at  a  nominal  rental  rate,  which  was  later  but  little 
reduced  by  imposing  onhj  the  cosl  of  heating  and  sweeping.  Not  the  church- 
less  sects  at  the  county  seat  only,  but  all  within  convenient  riding  or  driving 
di  tance  of  the  center  stake  might  avail  themselves  of  this  liberal  disposition 
oi  the  supervisors  -if  such  sects  could  agree  upon  a  scheme  of  days  and 
hours  for  their  several  services, 

Baptisl  societies  were  funned  a1  (lie  villages  of  Delavan  in  iN.><).  Spring 
Prairie  in  [841,  East  Troy  and  Millard  in  [842,  al  Walworth  in  1844,  Past 
Dela  an  and  Geneva  in  1845.     From  these  were  formed  the  Walworth  Bap- 


WALWORTH    COl'NTY,    WISCONSIN.  1/J 

tist  Association  in  1846,  now  the  oldest  of  the  county  associations,  which  are 
constituents  of  the  almost  venerable  Wisconsin  Baptist  convention,  the  first 
session  of  which  latter  body  was  held  at  East  Troy  in  July,  1846.  A  session  of 
the  convention  was  also  held  at  that  place  in  1856,  and  at  Delavan  in  1870, 
1883,  1 89 1  and  1909.  Increased  population  in  the  several  towns  soon  enabled 
each  local  society  to  build  itself  a  church,  aud  these  primitive  meeting  places 
were  most  of  them  followed  by  a  succession  of  better  buildings,  each  showing 
some  advance  in  the  means,  liberality,  and  architectural  taste  of  its  builders. 
In  order  of  membership  the  Baptist  churches  in  1909  were  Delavan,  391; 
Elk-horn,  189:  Walworth,  135;  Lake  Geneva,  100;  Millard,  go;  East  Dela- 
van, 5.5;  Darien,  3J ;  Spring  Prairie,  25.  In  order  of  value  of  church  prop- 
erty; Delavan,  $35,000;  Elkhorn,  $21,500;  Lake  Geneva,  $19,000;  Walworth, 
S4.900:  Millard,  $4,500;  East  Delavan,  $4,200;  Darien,  $3,100;  Spring  Prairie, 
$1,500.     This  denomination  is  the  only  one  which  has  a  count v  association. 

Of  the  several  denominations  now  having  society  or  parish  organiza- 
tions within  the  county,  the  Baptist,  Congregationalist,  Methodist  and  Epis- 
copalian were  earliest  on  the  ground:  and  the  first  of  these  was  and  is  numeri- 
cally strongest.  But  Catholic  missionaries  had  been  long  first  in  Wisconsin, 
and  among  these  the  Fathers  Lejeune,  Brebeuf,  LeMercier,  Vimont.  Lale- 
mant,  Raguneau,  de  Ouens,  and  Dablon,  in  their  now  invaluable  "Relations," 
laid  the  foundations  of  Wisconsin  history.  These  and  other  patiently  heroic 
men  also  laid  the  foundations  of  an  archiepiscopal  province  and  its  three  di- 
oceses. It  is  not  unlikely  that  Fathers  Marquette  and  Allouez  had  crossed  this 
county  and  had  lingered  1>\  its  lakes  long  before  Bigfoot  lorded  it  at  Fontana. 

It  is  certain  that  the  settlements  of  1836-7  were  not  long  unnoticed  nor 
neglected  by  the  Episcopal  bishop  at  Milwaukee,  and  the  infant  parishes  at 
Delavan,  Elkhorn.  etc..  soon  knew  Rt.  Rev.  Jackson  Kemper's  face  and  voice. 
Parishes  were  organized  where  and  when  practicable,  and  these  have  pros- 
pered steadily  and.  in  total  effect,  mightily.  There  are  now  large  and  hand- 
some churches  at  Delavan,  Elkhorn,  Lake  Geneva  and  Whitewater,  and 
chapels  or  missions  at  other  points. 

The  Congregational  church  was  planted  early  and  has  grown  with  the 
county.  Its  now  most  active  societies  are  at  Delavan,  East  Troy,  Elkhorn, 
Geneva  Junction,  Lafayette.  Lake  Geneva  and  Whitewatei 

A  few  Presbyterian  societies  were  formed,  bu1  nearly  all  were  soon  ab- 
sorbed by  its  ancient  rival,  the  Congregatinnal  church.  The  Presbyterian 
church  at  Lake  Geneva  had  a  long  and  generally  prosperous  life,  bul  in  [883 
its  members  voted  for  Congregational  organization. 

(12) 


I78  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

The  Methodists,  never  far  or  long  behind  the  founders  of  new  communi- 
ties, sowed  on  fertile  ground  and  now  stand  beneath  a  broadly  sheltering  tree. 
They  have  absorbed  the  allied  sects,  which  a  while  flourished  in  Walworth  as 
everywhere  else  in  America.  Wesleyans  struggled  a  few  years  for  separate 
existence,  and  then  yielded  to  the  inevitable.  The  churches  of  this  denomina- 
tion show  the  usual  increase  of  wealth  among  its  members,  with  incidental 
growth  in  architectural  taste. 

English-speaking  Catholics  have  been  for  more  thai,  three  centuries  ac- 
quainted with  poverty  as  to  their  parishes,  and  too  often  with  worse  than 
poverty  as  to  themselves ;  and  none  have  shown  forth  better  than  they  the 
sweet  usefulness  of  adversity.  For  several  years  Catholics  of  English  and 
other  tongues  were  so  few  and  so  dispersed  that  the  county  seemed  over-long 
but  a  field  for  painful  mission  labor.  Theirs  is  the  good  that  comes  from 
waiting  without  resting,  for  time  has  been  kind  to  them.  They  have  emerged 
from  the  wilderness  and  one  looking  upon  their  churches  at  Delavan.  East 
Troy,  Elkhorn,  Lake  Geneva.  Lyons  and  Whitewater  might  feel  moved  to 
adapt  the  Davidian  verse :  "Pray  ye  for  the  things  that  are  for  the  peace  of 
Jerusalem  :,and  abundance  for  them  that  love  thee." 

Seventh-day  Baptists  have  long  maintained  themselves,  as  in  a  strong- 
hold, at  Walworth, 

The  Lutheran  church  is  firmly  fixed  and  its  societies  are  well  distributed 
through  the  county,  at  Darien,  East  Troy,  Ekhorn  (two),  Lake  Geneva 
(two),  Lyons,  Richmond,  Sharon,  Sugar  Creek.  Whitewater  (two). 

The  ideas  or  opinions  of  CJniversalism  have  been  and  are  yet,  perhaps,  as 
widely  held  in  this  county  as  elsewhere,  but  its  denominational  activity  has 
thus  far  shown  fewer  results  than  that  of  some  numerically  smaller  religious 
divisions.  Its  adherents  have  sometimes  made  temporary  alliance  with  L'ni- 
tarianism  and  other  forms  of  liberal  theology.  Its  few  churches  are  not  always 
open,  nor  does  its  printed  teaching  circulate  among  its  readers  as  of  old. 

Spiritualism,  or  "spiritism,"  as  scoffers  have  named  it,  traveled  as 'fast  as 
the  mails  of  the  time  From  it-  birthplace  at  the  home  of  the  Fox  girls,  not 
Ear  from  the  depository  of  Joseph  Smith's  golden  plates.  Walworth  was  thus 
but  few  days  behind  Cattaraugus  in  receiving  tidings  from  the  unseen  world 
of  the  unstable  bul  far  from  unfruitful  air.  Intelligent  and  worthy  men  and 
women  were  not  wanting  among  converts,  and  "mediums"  of  various  gifts 
of  perception  and  power  of  interpretation  were  at  once  developed,  l'.elievers 
met  at  household  "seances"  and  met  in  general  conventions,  newspapers  and 
1 ks  were  lead  and  studied,  and  at  Whitewater  a  temple  was  built.  Its  doc- 
trines and  practices  are  nol  yel  obsolete,  though  it  has  here  less  of  the  aspect 
■!  organized  sect 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  I79 

At  Joseph  Smith's  death  a  rag  of  his  mantle  was  wafted  to  Spring 
Prairie  and  lodged  upon  James  Jesse  Strang's  shoulders,  thus  to  endue  him 
with  gifts  of  prophecy  and  leadership.  The  city  and  temple  of  Voree  rose, 
obedient  to  revelation,  in  1845  and,  obedient  to  counter  revelation,  was  aban- 
doned in  1847  to  rats  and  weasels,  and  the  temple  rafters  were  suffered  to  fall 
down  on  a  cow.  A  few  persons  may  have  returned  from  Beaver  Island  in 
1856,  but  not  to  restore  "the  fair  city  of  Voree."  A  few  followers  of  the 
younger  Joseph  Smith  came  from  the  desolation  of  Nauvoo,  in  1845,  to  the 
vicinity  of  East  Delavan,  where  they  built  a  church  of  Latter-day  Saints  and 
lived  without  offense  to  their  neighbors.  The  society  still  exists,  somewhat 
dwindled  in  number  and  with  less  regular  service  at  their  church. 

Mrs.  Eddy's  doctrines  have  pervaded  rather  than  divided  the  churches  of 
the  old  Protestant  orthodoxies.  Her  followers  are  not  easily  to  be  estimated  as 
to  their  number,  but  their  influence  is  manifest.  They  are  diffused  through- 
out the  county  and  appear  to  be  still  increasing  at  some  fair  rate.  Their  prog- 
ress is  more  like  the  silently  powerful  natural  forces  than  like  the  swiftly 
rushing  whirlw  ind  or  the  upheaving  and  rending  earthquake. 

PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

The  liberal  policy  of  the  federal  government  had  set  apart  section  six- 
teen of  each  township  of  the  national  domain  as  an  aid  to  new  states  in  the 
establishment  of  common  schools ;  but,  in  earlier  years  of  the  county  a  square 
mile  of  public  land,  at  its  best,  was  not  a  rich  endowment.  Some  notion 
may  be  formed  of  its  value  to  the  school  fund  from  a  report  in  1848  of  a 
committee  of  the  county  board  as  to  the  condition  of  school,  seminary  and 
university  lands  within  the  county.  Of  section  25  (a  seminary  section)  of 
Sugar  Creek  it  was  noted  that  the  timber  had  been  cut  away  unlawfully  and 
that  the  value  of  the  land  was  thus  reduced  by  one-half.  But  this  may  have 
been  the  only  instance  of  such  spoliation  of  the  rights  of  children. 

Before  the  full  organization  of  towns  the  schools  received  some  attention 
of  the  county  commissioners.  One  of  then  firsl  duties  was  to  set  off  school 
districts,  referring  boundaries  to  range,  township  and  section  lines.  Private 
enterprise  had  taken  the  first  practical  steps,  For  American  matrons  and 
maidens  could  not  and  would  not  Miller  the  young  children  to  lose  more  than 
one  school  year  in  the  transit  from  a  land  of  schools  to  the  late  home  of  the 
Pottawattomies.  So,  as  volunteer  teachers,  they  brought  together  their  pupils 
by  twos  and  threes  and  sometimes  sixes  at  some  consenting  neighbor's  house 
and  at  once  laid  bases  for  the  better  order  of  things  about  to   follow  ;  while 


l8o  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

men  met,  debated,  resolved,  amended,  referred,  reported,  voted  and  after 
much  such  like  ado,  acted. 

Judge  Gale  observed  that  however  men  differed  on  most  things  of  town- 
ship concern,  they  were  at  one  as  to  the  instant  need  of  schools.  The  com- 
missioners, in  1839,  appointed  town  school  inspectors:  For  Darien,  Nicholas 
S.  Comstock,  Loren  K.  Jones,  Amos  Older,  Lyman  H.  Seaver,  Jacob  Lee ;  for 
Delavan,  Charles  S.  Bailey,  Milo  Kelsey,  Alvin  B.  Parsons,  Henry  Phoenix, 
Salmon  Thomas;  for  Elkhorn  (old  town).  Tared  B.  Cornish,  George  Esterly, 
Volney  A.  McCracken,  Zerah  Mead,  Jeduthun  Spooner ;  for  Geneva,  Charles 
M.  Baker,  Andrew  Ferguson,  Charles  M.  Goodsell,  Samuel  Hall,  Russell  H. 
Malic  irv:  for  Spring  Prairie.  William  Arms,  Richard  Chenery,  Solomon  A. 
Dwinnell,  Ansel  A.  Hemenway,  Jesse  C.  Mills:  for  Walworth.  William  Bell, 
Phipps  W.  Lake,  James  A.  Maxwell,  William  Rumsey,  H.  Smith  Young. 
Better  men  than  these,  taken  all  together,  could  hardly  be  named  for  such 
service  in   191  r. 

A  meeting  of  school  commissioners  (or  inspectors)  and  other  citizens, 
was  held  at  Elkhorn,  December  1.  184J,  at  which  George  Gale,  Moses  Bartlett, 
Edward  Elderkin,  Solomon  A.  Dwinnell  and  Orra  Martin  were  appointed  to 
draft  suitable  resolutions  and  were  directed  to  report  at  an  adjourned  meeting, 
which  was  to  reassemble  December  24th.  Their  work  was  duly  submitted  and 
adopted : 

"Resolved,  That  nine-tenths  of  American  youth  lay  the  foundation  of 
their  education  in  common  schools,  and  their  after  success  depends  on  the 
prosperity  of  these  institutions. 

"That  a  well  organized  system  of  common  schools  is  indicative  of  an 
intelligent  and  enlightened  community. 

"That  Wisconsin  should  not  be  behind  old  states  in  the  great  cause  of 
education. 

"That  the  following  text-books  are  recommended:  Reading,  Leavitt's 
Easy  Lessons;  Porter's  Rbetorical  Reader;  Goodrich's  First  to  Fourth  Reader; 
spelling,  Webster's  Elementary  Spelling;  geography,  Peter  Parley's  and 
Olney's;  grammar,  Smith's,  Kirkham's;  arithmetic,  Adams's,  new  edition; 
composition,  Parker's  Exercises. 

"Thai  we  recommend  to  teachers  of  common  schools  a  more  general 
introduction  and  teaching  of  English  composition." 

Ii  was  further  resolved  to  call  a  convention  of  the  friends  of  education 
hi  iln  counties  of  Jefferson,  MKlwaukee,  Racine.  Rock  and  Walworth,  to 
meet  at  Easl  Troy,  Februarj  1.  r'843,  "tn  consider  the  best  methods  of  ad- 
vancing the  interests  of  common  school  education  in  the  territory."     Gaylord 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  l8l 

Graves  presided  at  this  convention,  and  Judge  Gale,  the  secretary,  says  that 
the  proceedings  were  spirited,  and  that  among  resolutions  adopted  was  one 
recommending  establishment  "of  a  normal  school  for  the  education  of  teach- 
ers." The  convention  adjourned  to  Elkhorn,  third  Wednesday  in  May  fol- 
lowing; but  it  never  met  again.  It  might  seem  that  a  few  warmly  interested 
men  of  somewhat  telescopic  vision  were  permitted  to  think  and  talk  for  their 
less  imaginative  but  vary  practical  neighbors,  but  not  to  act  for  them  in  such 
wise  as  to  raise  the  tax  rate.  August  7,  1841,  the  return  to  the  county  com- 
missioners of  delinquent  tax  was,  for  schools  $150.45,  for  roads  $193.63. 

Until  1805  each  town  chose  its  school  superintendent.  This  system  was 
found  inefficient,  variable  in  method  and  operation,  and  behind  the  spirit  of 
the  age.  The  count}-  superintendency  promised  better  things,  but  its  advan- 
tages did  not  at  once  follow  its  creation ;  though  enlightened  men,  in  touch 
with  the  State  Teachers'  Association  and  other  widening  and  substance-giving 
influences,  were  chosen  to  lead  order  from  chaos.  Public  opinion  or  sentiment 
on  the  subject  of  education  is  not  formed  by  teachers  alone.  It  has  always 
been  favorable,  as  an  abstract  proposition,  to  a  system  of  state  schools;  but 
the  advancing  ideas  of  superintendents  and  teachers  do  not  always  work  in- 
stant conviction  in  the  minds  of  taxpayers, — at  least,  as  to  special  new  meas- 
ures proposed.  These  may  seem  in  the  nature  of  doubtful  experiments,  liable 
to  carry  with  them  new  or  higher  taxation,  and  therefore  requiring  looking 
before  leaping.  The  nearness  of  one  of  the  normal  schools  has  been,  on  the 
whole,  of  incidental  advantage  in  moving  forward  the  public  mind  to  larger 
liberality  of  thought  and  action.  A  large  percentage  of  the  pupilage  at  the 
Whitewater  institution  has  been  resident  within  the  county,  and  many  of  those 
graduated  have  taught  at  least  a  year  in  home  districts  before  finding  other 
usefulness  abroad.  Thus,  their  parents  and  friends  have  been  brought  more 
or  less  into  knowledge  and  not  seldom  into  sympathy  with  the  views  of  leaders 
in  the  movement  toward  school  improvement.  Able  officers  of  the  State  Uni- 
versity, the  normal  schools,  the  state  superintendency.  and  the  State  Teach- 
ers' Association  have  been  heard  as  lecturers  and  have  had  their  legitimate 
influence.  The  taxpayer  of  this  century,  now  better  in  formed  and  larger 
minded,  is  often  found  upholding  a  school  system  unknown  to  his  boyhood 
and  which  he  had  for  a  time  distrusted  and  opposed. 

The  fully  organized  high  schools  of  four  little  cities  and  as  many  in- 
corporated villages  have  contributed  to  this  evolution  of  better  public  senti- 
ment. The  more  forward  or  more  fortunate  youths  of  the  district  schools, 
passing  to  and  through  the  neighboring  high  school,  have  fairly  measured 
their  own  benefit  received  from  this  upward  step  and  have  seen  more  clearly 


l82  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

to  what  practical  ends  the  higher  education  may  tend.  The  county  high 
schools  are  steady  feeders  of  the  stream  of  young  life  toward  the  university, 
the  colleges  and  the  technical  schools ;  and  names  of  young  Walworthians  are 
found  in  every  class  list.  So,  in  the  slow  march  of  years,  the  dream  of  the 
earlier  educator  is  in  course  of  fulfillment,  and  the  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion has  become  nearly  one  and  indivisible.  The  direct  and  now  plainly  seen 
result  is  to  make  the  children  of  many  races  in  Wisconsin  homogeneous  and 
truly  American. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


ROADS    AXD    ROAD-MAKING RAILWAYS. 


The  earliest  of  all  roads  were  the  Indian  trails.  Of  these  the  most  im- 
portant was  that  from  Milwaukee  to  Galena,  passing  through  the  northern 
part  of  the  count}'  and  having  lateral  branches  from  Whitewater  to  hurt 
Atkinson  and  elsewhere  in  the  Bark  River  country.  Mr.  Cravath  describes 
this  as  about  fifteen  inches  wide  and  trodden  in  the  spongier  places  to  such 
depth  as  more  to  resemble  a  ditch  than  the  "highway  of  a  nation."  A  trail 
from  Geneva  lake  passed  by  way  of  Lafayette  and  East  Troy  to  Mukwonago 
lake,  and  this  became  part  of  the  "army  trail,"  used  by  federal  troops  in  their 
marches  between  Fort  Dearborn  and  the  forts  of  the  North  and  Northeast. 
Another  trail  from  the  foot  of  Geneva  lake  led  to  Godfrey's  at  the  upper 
fork  of  the  Fox,  near  Rochester,  and  thence  to  Racine,  with  a  branch  to 
Milwaukee.  But  these  lateral  trails  varied  more  or  less  in  their  course,  and 
were  sometimes  confusing  to  white  travelers,  so  that  fords  were  found 
with  difficulty  or  missed  wholly.  Generally,  the  Indians  found  the  most 
practicable  routes  from  point  to  point,  with  short  cuts  and  detours  suited  to 
conditions  of  weather  and  soil;  but  their  roads,  so  cunningly  surveyed,  were 
not  made  with  hands.  Other  trails  led  from  lake  to  lake  and  from  village  or 
camp  to  hunting,  fishing,  and  trapping  places.  Some  of  these  routes,  no  doubt, 
gave  partial  direction  to  white  men's  first  roads. 

There  was  no  distinct  trail  from  Gardner's  prairie  to  Turtle  creek.  Allen 
Perkins,  returning  in  July,  1836,  from  his  new'ly-made  claim  near  Delavan, 
lost  his  way  and  was  found  twenty-four  hours  later  by  Colonel  Phoenix — - 
more  -killed  in  the  craft  of  woods  and  prairie — and  guided  to  Gardner's. 
Thereupon  the  settler-  turned  out  and  dragged  a  tree  over  the  whole  route, 
so  breaking  down  brush  and  weeds  and  scratching  soft  or  loose  earth  as  to 
make  the  way  plain  and  nearly  straight.  The  present  highway  from  Dela- 
van to  Elkhorn,  and  the  more  southerly  of  two  mads  thence  to  Spring  Prairie, 
coincide  nearly  with  the  route  taken  b)   Colonel   Phoenix. 

The  territorial  Legislature  established  a  few  routes  from  the  lake  shore 
to  the  valley  of  the  Rock, — as,  from  Milwaukee  and  Racine  to  Janesville  and 
from  Kenosha  to  Beloit;  but  these  were  in  no  wise  king's  highways  for 
smooth   and    rapid   transit.      The)    became,   in   a   way.   trunk   roads,    for   the 


184  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

county's  system  of  highways.  To  define  road  districts  and  appoint  viewers 
for  roads  ordered  or  authorized  were  among  the  earlier  duties  of  the  first 
governing  board,  the  county  commissioners.  With  the  soon-following  or- 
ganization of  the  several  towns  their  supervisors,  under  direction  of  the 
yearly  town  meetings,  ordered  the  work  of  the  plows  and  the  shovels,  stopping 
scrupulously  at  town  lines.  If  this  was  not  a  good  method,  it  was  the  only 
one  practicable  for  more  than  sixty  years. 

Twenty  years  after  the  coming  of  Gardner,  Meacham,  Payne  and  Phoenix, 
the  ways  in  spring  and  fall,  and  in  open  winters,  were  in  many  if  not  in  most 
places  just  as  bad  as  patient  men  could  endure — and  patient  men  were  in  the 
majority.  For  instances,  the  crossings  of  Sugar  Creek  valley  and  that  of 
Duck  Lake  marsh  were  just  a  little  better  than  the  adjacent  bogs.  Perhaps, 
taken  together,  the  roads  leading  out  of  Elkhorn  were  the  worst  within  the 
knowledge  of  men.  The  road  to  Delavan  was  bad.  The  two  roads  into  Sugar 
Creek  were  worse.  The  road  leading  due  eastward  toward  Spring  Prairie 
(Colonel  Phoenix's  trail)  was  worst.  The  town  line  roads  northward  and 
southward  were  pluperfectly  worst.  That  which  passes  the  fair  ground  into 
Lafayette  and  thence  eastward  was  for  two  miles  plusquamperfectly  vile,  and 
hence  not  to  lie  described  in  fair  terms. 

Much  has  been  told  and  written  of  privations  undergone  and  difficulties 
met  and  overcome  by  the  pioneers.  It  may  be  doubted  if  they  and  their  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren  have  endured  anything  much  worse  than  their  own 
roads;  for  these  were  a  long-lasting  and  for  long  a  hopeless  affliction  to  men 
and  their  unmurmuring  beasts.  The  men  of  Elkhorn  and  adjoining  towns 
were  not  wanting  in  enlightened  public  spirit.  The}-,  as  other  men,  were  ruled 
by  the  circumstances  of  their  time,  which,  neither  tor  Walworth  nor  for  the 
next  county  in  any  direction,  were  then  favorable  to  boulevard-making. 

There  is  gravel  nearly  everywhere  in  the  county,  but  not  everywhere  of 
the  fittest  for  road  making.  Some  fortunate  towns  have  it  at  the  pathmaster's 
convenience,  whenever  he  may  work,  while  for  other  towns  it  must  be  hauled 
at  greatly  multiplied  cost,  or.  an  inferior  compound  of  clay,  sand  and  pebbles 
must  be  used.  For  tin-  past  twenty  years  the  more  general  tendency  lias  been 
to  use  the  better  material.  For  at  least  one-half  of  the  year  the  greater  part 
ol  the  POads  are  lilted  well  out  of  the  mud,  and  the  fair-ground  is  no  longer 
fronted  h\    a  "hole  of  sorrow." 

But  tlie  good  thai  sometimes  comes  to  such  as  can  wait  seventy-five  years 
seenis  now  at  band.  The  county  board  of  1911,  at  its  November  session, 
acting  under  a  statute  of  that  year,  elected  as  its  first  county  board  commis- 
sioner Herman  J.  Peters,  of  the  town  of  Sharon  1  who  is  a  son  of  the  super- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 85 

visor  for  that  town).  The  sum  of  nine  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  was 
appropriated  for  the  work  of  191 2.  This  is  the  sum  of  fifteen  appropriations 
made  previously  by  as  many  towns,  only  Troy  not  in  the  list.  The  state 
levies  a  like  sum.  which  when  collected  is  returned  to  the  county  on  conditions 
prescribed  by  statute.  The  towns  retain  the  initiative,  and  may  each  do  its 
road-work  by  its  own  officers  and  citizens.  The  work  done  in  any  year  is 
limited  to  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  county's  road  mileage.  To  receive  statutory 
aid  the  towns  must  conform  to  the  general  plans  of  the  state  road  commis- 
sion and  admit  the  supervision  of  the  county's  officer.  If  this  is  done,  the  prin- 
cipal roads  will  become  parts  of  a  state  system.  In  order  to  secure  such  a 
result,  the  adjoining  counties  interchange  plans  of  each  year's  work  to  be 
done,  so  that  road  may  meet  road  at  the  county  lines. 

In  brief,  state  and  county  roads  will  have  nine-foot  roadbeds,  of  best 
material  locally  available,  well  rolled,  with  enough  margin  for  meeting  and 
passing  vehicles,  and  will  be  built  under  competent  direction.  Cities  and  in- 
corporated villages  must  pay  state  and  county  road  taxes,  but  road-making 
stops  at  their  limits.  Hence,  these  municipalities  will  have  such  streets  as 
they  may  care  to  make  or  may  choose  to  endure. 

RAILWAYS. 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  in  1826  incorporated  the  Mohawk  & 
Hudson  Railway  Company  with  a  capital  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
and  this  might  be  increased  to  a  half  million.  Its  line  was  from  Albany  to 
Schenectady,  fourteen  miles,  and  the  road  was  built  in  1830-1.  In  1830  the 
Canajoharie  &  Catskill  and  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  companies  were  incor- 
porated. About  this  time  other  companies  were  chartered,  as,  the  Port  Byron 
&  Auburn,  Hudson  &  Berkshire,  Great  Au  Sable,  Catskill  &  Ithaca,  Salina  & 
Port  Watson,  Canandaigua  &  Geneva,  Ithaca  &  Owego  railways.  The 
counties  in  which  lay  these  proposed  lines  supplied  no  small  share  of  the  first- 
comers  to  Walworth,  many  of  whom  may  have  been  jolted  over  a  few  miles 
of  straj>-rail,  at  ten  or  twelve  miles  an  hour,  through  forests  and  swamps  pri- 
meval, in  low-roofed  compartment  cars,  behind  locomotives  of  low  horse- 
power, and  at  rates  not  fixed  by  statute. 

The  lakes  were  a  natural  highway  from  Buffalo  to  the  line  of  ports 
placed  at  the  mouth  of  rivers  and  creeks  from  Green  bay  to  Kenosha,  each 
one  a  new  Tyre;  but  railways  were  needed,  and  at  once,  by  which  to  reach 
the  inland  and  river  counties,  to  distribute  throughout  the  Wisconsin  paradise 
a  part  of  the  rising  tide  of  immigration.  The  settlements  of  Walworth  were 
scant  fifteen  years  old  when  the -fast- following  railway  builders  had  reached 


l86  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Chicago  by  two  lines  through  Michigan  and  Indiana,  and  were  looking  at 
farther  Iowa  as  their  own. 

Men  of  Milwaukee  were  neither  blind  nor  idle.  In  1847  a  railway  to 
Waukesha  was  projected  and  in  four  years  it  was  built  thus  far.  Money  was 
needed  to  carry  this  line  across  to  the  Mississippi.  A  change  in  its  charter 
gave  it  a  definite  western  terminus  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  in  1856  the  first 
train  ran  across  the  narrower  part  of  the  state.  The  road  was  new-named 
Milwaukee  &  Mississippi.  It  reached  Whitewater  in  1852  and  in  the  same 
year  was  built  to  Milton.  This  was  nearly  as  soon  as  Chicago  was  reached 
from  Detroit  and  Toledo,  and  but  thirteen  years  after  Dr.  Tripp  had  built 
his  mill.  This  road  enters  the  town  at  section  1,  turns  southwesterly  at  the 
city,  and  leaves  by  section  18. 

Racine,  too,  had  golden  visions  of  trade  diverted  from  the  big  villages  of 
Chicago  and  Milwaukee  to  the  rising  city  with  "the  finest  harbor  along  the 
lake."  In  1852  her  railway  investors  procured  a  charter  for  the  Racine,  Janes- 
ville  &  Mississippi  Railway.  Her  own  capital  was  insufficient,  and  the  coun- 
ties and  towns  along  the  proposed  line  were  urged  to  issue  bonds  and  their 
citizens  to  subscribe  to  stock.  The  western  terminus  was  not  fixed  definitely. 
Partly,  perhaps,  because  if  built  wholly  in  Wisconsin  the  line  would  be  rather 
too  near  the  Milwaukee  road's  way,  but  probably  more  to  secure  a  desirable 
connection  with  Iowan  lines  south  of  Dubuque,  the  course  was  diverted  from 
Janesville  to  Beloit  and  thence  through  Freeport  to  Savannah.  As  at  first 
surveyed  through  this  county  the  track  would  have  been  nearly  straight  from 
I  ,yons  to  Delavan.  leaving  Elkhorn  a  mile  or  more  northward.  There  was  no 
excess  of  cash  capital  at  Elkhorn,  but  there  were  poor  men  whose  minds  were 
filled  with  dreams  of  nothing  less  than  a  triple-junction  of  long-line  railways, 
and  from  such  a  maze  of  frogs  and  switches  and  side-tracks  and  Y's  it  must 
follow  as  surcl}-  as  the  working  of  the  law  of  gravitation  that  trade  must 
leave  Chicago  and  all  other  fictitious,  accidental  and  temporary  trade  centers 
and  huddle  itsell  about  the  court  house  square.  One  railway  was  building 
up  Whitewater  like  an  exhalation.  What  three  railways  would  do  for  Elk- 
liorn  only  assessors  and  census  enumerators  could  tell,  after  the  wonderful 
doing.  It  was  easy  enough  for  Elderkin,  Preston,  Smith.  Spooner,  Utter, 
Winsor,  and  all  the  talkers  of  a  county-seat  t"  persuade  their  hopeful  fellow 
citizens  that  private  money  and  village  bunds  could  net  be  invested  in  other 
i\  with  such  certainty  of  quick  and  yearly  increasing  profit.  Elkhom  raised 
twenty  thousand  dollars  and  Delavan  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  early 
in  [856  tbi'  track  was  extended  From  Burlington  to  Delavan,  with  stations 
also  at  Lyonsdale  and  Springfield.     In  the  fall  the  work  was  carried  through 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  187 

Darien  and  Allen  Grove  to  Clinton,  where  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  road, 
passing  through  Sharon  village,  crossed  on  its  way  to  Janesville.  The  next 
year  the  work  was  pushed  about  two  stations  beyond  Beloit — Brockton  and 
Shi  Hand.  The  business  panic  of  that  year  checked  railway  building,  though 
in  1859  trus  road  reached  Freeport  and  halted  there  until  a  change  of  owner- 
ship, with  change  of  name  to  Western  Union,  extended  it  to  Savannah,  and 
later  to  Rock  Island. 

In  1869  the  great  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  consolidation,  which 
already  included  the  Western  Union  line,  built  its  straight  line  from  Chicago 
to  Milwaukee,  making  a  new  crossing  at  Western  Union  Junction,  now  named 
Corliss.  In  1869-70  seventeen  miles  of  track,  from  Ea'gle  to  Elkhorn, 
through  the  towns  of  Troy  and  Lafayette,  with  three  intermediate  stations, 
connected  the  Milwaukee  &  Prairie  du  Chien  division  with  the  Racine  &  South- 
western division.  There  were  men  along  this  line  who  imagined  that  passen- 
gers between  Milwaukee  and  Rock  Island  would  be  brought  by  way  of  this 
new  track.  But  the  company's  policy  was  not  so  much  to  rearrange  travel- 
routes  or  to  build  up  new  cities  of  Walworth  as  to  make  it  unlikely  that  some 
other  company  would  fulfil  the  old  dream  of  a  road  from  Milwaukee  through 
East  Troy  to  Beloit.  As  a  small  part  of  a  great  railway  system  this  branch  is 
not  profitless,  and  it  is  of  much  convenience  to  local  travelers  and  shippers. 
Neither  citizens  nor  towns  were  asked  to  aid  this  bit  of  railway-building. 

In  1853  men  of  Whitewater,  Elkhorn  and  Geneva  obtained  a  charter 
as  the  Wisconsin  Central  Railway  Company.  Beginning  at  Genoa  and  run- 
ning diagonally  through  the  county  much  curved  from  Geneva  toward  Elkhorn, 
and  onward  in  a  nearly  straight  line  to  Whitewater,  and  thence  through  Jef- 
ferson, Columbus  and  Portage,  the  builders  would  be  providentially  guided 
to  a  suitable  terminus  at  Lake  Superior.  Erom  Genoa  to  Chicago  its  trains 
would  use  the  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  tracks.  Millard  and  Heart  Prairie 
lay  on  this  crow-flight  across  the  county.  By  1857  the  line  was  nearly  de- 
termined through  Stevens  Point  to  the  mouth  of  Montreal  river.  The  first 
president  of  the  company  was  Legrand  Rockwell,  and  the  last  one  was  Rufus 
Cheney,  Jr.  From  first  to  last  Edwin  Hodges  was  secretary  and  treasurer, 
Frederick  J.  Starin  its  chief  engineer,  and  Winsor  &  Smith  its  attorneys.  It 
is  not  now  easy  to  find  director  lists  or  names  of  stockholders,  bul  Charles  M. 
Baker,  of  Geneva,  George  Bulkley  and  Otis  Preston,  of  Elkhorn,  Eleazar 
Wakeley,  of  Whitewater,  and  perhaps  John  A.  Pierce,  of  Millard,  were  among 
the  leaders.  But  for  the  day  of  reckoning,  for  business  men  of  America,  late 
in  1857,  this  road  might  have  been  built.  Much  grading  was  done  almost 
continuous!]    from  Genoa  to  Whitewater,  and  at  points  beyond.     The  towns 


l88  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

along  the  line  had  been  authorized  by  statute  to  give  their  bonds  in  aid.  and 
most  of  them  had  done  so,  in  amounts  up  to  the  statutory  limit,  which  varied 
between  fifteen  thousand  and  forty  thousand  dollars.  They  who  could  not 
or  would  not  subscribe  to  stock  could  easily  enough  vote  for  issuance  of  vil- 
lage or  town  bonds.  As  Mr.  Simmons  tells  for  Lake  Geneva:  "This  was 
considered  a  glorious  opportunity  to  get  something  for  nothing,  as  we  should 
secure  the  road,  while  the  bonds  would  pay  for  the  stock — and  the  stock  in 
turn  would  pay  the  bonds, — and  the  dividends  would  pay  the  interest."  Mr. 
Cravarh  says  that  Messrs.  Cheney  and  Wakeley  "were  very  successful  in  ob- 
taining subscriptions,  most  of  the  inhabitants  (at  Whitewater)  taking  from 
one  to  five  shares."  At  Klkhorn  whoso  owned  his  home  lot  and  one  quarter- 
acre  lot  besides  was  already  well  on  the  road  to  wealth  not  earned  with  hands. 
In  all  this  there  was  nothing  peculiar  to  the  men  of  Walworth.  The  Legisla- 
ture of  Wisconsin,  like  the  legislatures  of  other  states,  had  been  chartering 
possible  and  improbable  railways  since  1850.  The  air  was  everywhere  filled 
with  talk  of  prosperity-bringing  railways  and  of  first-class  cities  springing 
ii] >  in  a  day  and  a  night.  An  instance  of  great  things  unforetold  :  where  was  a 
cornfield  in  1855  was  Clinton,  Iowa,  in  1856,  with  more  than  a  thousand  in- 
habitants, and  other  thousands  looked  for  by  every  train  and  river  steamer. 

Kenosha  is  but  ten  miles  from  Racine  and,  in  seventeen  years  of  strife 
as  to  which  should  be  greatest,  had  fallen  somewhat  behind.  In  that  period 
01  railway  chartering,  namely,  in  1853,  it  did  not  seem  impossible,  at  Kenosha. 
to  reverse  their  places  in  order  of  population  and  business,  nor  even  to  rival 
Milwaukee.  A  charter  was  easily  procured  for  a  railway  through  Geneva  and 
Sharon  to  Beloit,  and  also  an  enabling  act  by  which  each  town  so  traversed 
might  vote  for  an  issue  of  bonds.  Before  the  towns  bad  voted,  a  change  of 
route  directed  the  line  to  Rockford  by  way  of  Genoa,  with  a  design  to  reach 
Rock  Island  and  divide  the  trade  of  Iowa  with  Chicago.     It  was  a  Napoleonic 

conception  with  a  Water! ratcome.    The  Chicago  &  Northwestern  Company 

gave  Kenosha  a  line  to  Rockford  and  thence  not  as  Kenosha  willed  but  as  the 
company  found  mos(  to  it^  own  advantage.  The  little  citv  now  prospers  at  a 
healthy  rate,  from  its  natural  advantages. 

Milwankccans.  too.  saw  in  mind's  eye  a  highway  across  Walworth  fields 
to  Beloit,  thus  to  conned  their  city  with  the  trade  of  middle  and  farther  Iowa. 
This  line  was  to  come  into  the  county  from  Mukwonagn  and  pass  through 
I  .m  Troy.  Troy,  Lafayette  and  Elkihorn,  to  Delavan  and  thence  its  trains 
would  use  tlir  Racine  load's  tracks  to  Beloit.  Horatio  llill,  president,  and 
mosd  of  the  directorate  were  oi  Milwaukee.  Among  the  local  incorporators 
were    Manson  II.  Barnes,  vice-president,  Alender  (A  Babcock,  secretary  and 


WALWORTH    COCNTV,    WISCONSIN.  1 89 

treasurer.  Elias  Hibbard,  Levi  Lee,  Joseph  D.  Monell.  John  A.  Perry,  Sewall 
Smith,  and  Christopher  Wiswell. 

In  1857  the  grading  was  well  under  way  and  there  was  every  fair  sign 
that  trains  would  run  over  the  whole  route  within  another  year  but  for  that 
all-arresting  monetary  panic  from  which  business  had  not  yet  recovered 
when  civil  war  began. 

The  collapse  of  all  these  plans  of  railway-building  bore  heavily  on  the 
whole  community,  but  upon  none  more  than  upon  men  who  had  too  liberallv 
mortgaged  farms  and  homes  to  pay  -subscriptions  at  the  sales  of  stocks.  The 
towns  could  stagger  along  for  a  few  years  under  their  several  loads  of  bonded 
indebtedness.  Both  towns  and  farmers  presently  found  that  they  had  not  to 
settle  with  the  bankrupted  railway  companies,  but  with  men  to  whom  panic 
periods  were  their  own  peculiar  harvest  times;  for  there  are  few  calamities 
in  human  affairs  so  widespread  and  complete  that  a  fortunate  few,  if  so 
minded,  may  not  turn  to  their  profit  while  the  many  "weep  and  bleed  and 
groan."  So  much  like  swindling  it  seemed,  to  men  of  the  less  complex  civiliza- 
tion of  country  life,  to  be  held  for  the  face  value,  or  even  a  large-profit  com- 
promise value,  of  bonds  which  had  cost  the  latest  holders  nearly  nothing,  that 
something  of  the  spirit  of  Bunker  Hill  was  aroused.  In  April,  i860,  a  suc- 
cessor to  the  late  Chief  Justice  Whiton  was  to  be  chosen,  and  an  issue  was 
made,  in  several  counties,  on  the  validity  of  these  farm  mortgages.  The 
decisions  of  lower  courts  were  often  unpopular  (though  Judge  Noggle,  of 
the  first  circuit,  decided  in  1859  against  the  bond  holders),  and  the  partly  self- 
victimized  farmers  and  their  friends  looked  to  the  supreme  court  for  relief. 
A.  Scott  Sloan,  of  Beaver  Dam,  in  a  temporarily  famous  letter  to  his  brother, 
Ithamar  C.  Sloan,  of  Janesville,  seemed  to  take  an  equitable  view  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  letter  was  published  in  his  interest,  and  it  gained  for  him  a  large 
majority  of  the  vote  of  Walworth  and  of  a  few  counties  in  similar  plight.  For- 
tunately for  the  permanent  credit  of  the  state,  Judge  Dixon — already  on  the 
bench  by  appointment — was  elected,  and  the  sober  second  thought  of  Wal- 
worth helped  to  keep  him  in  place  until  his  resignation  in  1K74.  The  year  1861 
brought  the  new  burdens  of  war  to  divide  men's  attention. 

The  whole  story  of  the  Wisconsin  Central  Railway  is  not  yet  told.  Late 
in  1856  nine  miles  of  strap-rail,  outworn  in  service  of  the  Galena  &  Chicago 
Union  Railway,  was  laid  from  <  ienoa  to  a  point  near  Geneva  village  and  trains 
ran  to  and  from  Elgin.  Thus  the  much  desired  connection  was  made  with 
Chicago.  The  next  year  the  citizens  of  Geneva  made  an  effort,  and  broughl 
tracks  and  trains  into  the  village.  The  depression  of  business,  ever) 
where  continuing  until  hope  could  scarcel;    cri  ite   from  its  own  wreck  new 


I9O  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 

hope  and  this  with  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  make-shift  rail-laying,  operated 
to  take  away  the  locomotive  and  to  put  on  a  horse  or  mule  team,  and  even 
this  reduction  of  power  was  again  reduced,  accidentally,  by  one-half. 

The  Chicago  &  Northwestern  railway,  in  1856,  laid  about  four  miles  of 
its  track  across  a  corner  of  the  town  of  Sharon,  making  a  station  at  the  vil- 
lage, and  pushed  onward  to  Janesville.  The  next  year  it  was  built  to  Fond 
du  Lac  and  probably  farther.  As  far  as  now  known  the  company  asked 
nothing  and  received  nothing  from  Sharon  but  its  right  of  way  across  that 
fortunate  town.  Fifteen  years  later  it  came  into  Bloomfield  and  Geneva  by 
arrangement  with  a  local  company.  In  1871  a  few  citizens  of  Geneva  and 
its  vicinjty,  among  whom  were  Charles  M.  J  laker,  Robert  H.  Baker,  John  W. 
Boyd,  W.  Densmore  Chapin.  Lewis  Curtis.  John  Haskins,  Thomas  W.  Hill, 
Erasmus  1).  Richardson,  and  Timothv  Clark  Smith,  procured  a  charter  for 
the  State  Line  and  Union  Railway  Company,  to  be  built  from  Genoa  to 
Columbus  and  thence  to  some  point,  not  named,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Ponemah. 
President  Baker  made  a  contract  with  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern  company 
to  build  and  operate  the  road  from  Genoa  Junction  to  Lake  Geneva.  In  1887 
this  load  was  extended  to  Williams  Bay,  six  miles  from  the  city,  and  ninety- 
two  miles  from  Chicago,  and  is  now  a  part  of  a  great  system  of  connected 
railways  owning  or  operating  ten  thousand  miles  of  tracks. 

From  time  to  time,  after  the  Civil  war,  a  faint  hope  was  revived  in  the 
minds  of  men  by  rumors  of  new  corporate  combinations  which  would  or 
might  find  it  expedient  to  lay  tracks  from  Lake  Geneva  to  Whitewater  and 
obliquely  onward  toward  the  arctic  circle.  Between  1871  and  1881  the  Chi- 
cago, Portage  &  Lake  Superior  Railway  Company  acquired  some  more  or  less 
disputed  title  to  the  right  of  way.  cuts  and  dumps  of  the  dead  Wisconsin  Cen- 
tral company,  and  the  brighter  day  for  all  here  concerned  seemed  about  to 
break  in  sun-lighted  splendor.  But  a  transfer  of  a  million  dollars  in  paid  stock 
of  the  new  company  to  the  Chicago,  Minneapolis  &  Omaha  company,  whose 
interest,  it  seemed,  was  not  to  1  mild  this  piece  of  road,  soon  dissipated  that 
ihi  >rf  lived  dream. 

At  the  legislative  msmhh  of  iXNj  a  bill  to  bestow  a  grant  of  public  land 
upon  the  last  named  company  was  considered  and  passed.  Donald  Stewart. 
an  assemblyman  for  Walworth,  moved  an  amendment  requiring  the  company 
to  pa)  certain  old  claims  held  by  citizens  of  the  county  againsl  the  old  com- 
pany, The  amendment  failed  of  passage,  hut  Mr.  Stewart  signalized  him- 
self li\  a  speech  that  commanded  hearing,  though  it  had  no  further  effect  at 
M'adison.  I  lis  opponents  spoke  in  such  high  terms  oi  this  speech  that  his 
constituents  were  nearly  persuaded  that   in  the  combative   farmer  of   Sugar 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  ICjI 

Creek  the  county  had  found  its  ablest  and  stoutest  representative,  past,  present, 
or  likely  soon  to  come,  of  its  interests.  He  served  another  term,  and  then 
his  district  forgot  him  and  his  great  speech. 

William  R.  Chadsey,  one  of  the  old  Central  company's  building  con- 
tractors, had  some  real  or  shadow}-  rights  in  its  forlorn  road-bed,  and  these 
were  more  or  less  complicated  by  suits  and  cross-suits  in  the  federal  court  at 
Milwaukee.  Having  himself  outlasted  whatever  commercial  credit  he  might 
once  have  had,  he  urged  the  attention  of  a  few  capitalists  at  New  York  to  a 
railway  map  of  Wisconsin.  Thus  they  might  see  readily  that  time  had  but 
confirmed  the  wisdom  of  the  first  projectors  in  their  choice  of  a  way  from 
Chicago  to  anywhere  in  the  farther  Northwest.  Long  lines  had  since  been 
built  on  each  side,  leaving  a  rail-less  belt  of  rich  and  highly  improved  farms, 
each  with  its  enormous  barn,  wind-mill,  and  other  evidences  of  wisely-directed 
and  well-rewarded  industry,  and  dotted  with  villages  waiting  but  the  railway- 
builder's  touch  to  make  them  each  a  forever-flourishing  city.  Gen.  William 
S.  Rosecrans  was  called  to  their  councils  and  was  commissioned  to  come  with 
Mr.  Chadsey  and  see  for  them  what  had  been  done,  what  must  be  done,  and 
to  judge  of  the  likelihood  that  enough  local  business  could  be  assured  to 
warrant  the  outlay.  The  two  men  went  over  the  line  from  Lake  Geneva  to 
Portage,  in  July,  1883,  and  on  reaching  Whitewater  found  there  a  federal 
marshal's  deputy  awaiting  them  with  papers,  enjoining  them  to  perform  no 
act  denoting  possession  of  any  part  of  the  old  line.  Whatever  ( feneral  Rose- 
crans reported,  it  has  not  since  appeared  that  the  men  at  New  York  cared  to 
invest  in  an  endlessly  complicated  suit  in  the  federal  court. 

In  [886  a  new  Wisconsin  Central  railway  was  built  from  Chicago,  cross- 
ing the  older  lines  from  Kenosha  and  Racine  at  Fox  River  and  Burlington, 
respectively,  and  entering  Walworth  county  at  Honey  (reek,  making  a  station 
at  Lake  Beulah,  and  passing  through  Waukesha  county  into  the  indefinite 
northwest.  It  is  now  known  as  the  Chicago  division  of  the  Minneapolis,  Saint 
Paul  &  Sault  Sainte  Marie  railway  system,  controlling  about  four  thousand 
miles  of  track. 

In  [901  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  company  built  its  Chicago 
Tanesville  and  Madison  division,  crossing  the  towns  of  Linn  and  Walworth 
and  a  corner  each  of  Sharon  and  Darien.  Its  stations  within  the  county  are 
Zenda  (in  Linn),  Walworth  village,  and  Bardwell,  ai  first  named  Tioga,  in 
Darien. 

Two  short  but  very  useful  electric  lines  at  presenl  complete  the  railway 
list  of  the  county:  from  Harvard  to  Walworth  village  and  Fontana  in  [899 
and  from  Milwaukee  by  way  of  Mukwonago  to  Ea  '    I  roy  village  in  rc;o8,  Men 


I92  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

were  securing  rights  of  way  in  191 1  for  an  electric  line  from  Lake  Geneva  to 
Whitewater  along  the  grades  of  the  old  Wisconsin  Central  company.  Though 
this  action  does  not  assure  an  early  construction.it  has  raised,  in  the  minds  of 
men.  some  renewal  of  old  hope. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

COUNTY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY OLD  SETTLERS'   SOCIETY. 

The  county  board.  January  S.  (846,  adopted  a  resolution  directing  Sheriff 
Bell  "to  lease  without  rent  the  middle  office  on  the  east  side  of  the  hall  in  the 
court  house  for  the  use  of  an  historical  society  whenever  said  society  shall  be 
formed  in  the  county  and  shall  desire  the  use  of  the  same  for  a  library  and 
cabinet.  Said  lease  to  be  completed  and  ended  whenever  the  board  of  super 
visors  shall  so  order,  and  said  society  is  prohibited  from  keeping  a  fire  and 
lights  in  said  room  without  the  special  consent  of  the  sheriff."  It  is  not  prob- 
able that  the  board  thus  acted  on  its  own  initiative,  but  quite  likely  that 
Messrs.  Dwinnell  and  Gale  had  prepared  its  way.  Fifty-three  citizens  signed 
a  call  for  a  meeting,  to  be  held  April  2d,  to  organize  such  a  society!,  but  that 
date  had  been  fixed  for  a  school  convention  at  Elkhorn,  and  the  matter  was 
neglected    and    forgotten. 

\   small  county,  its  towns  settled  nearly  simultaneously  and  having  lie 
tween  them  no  physical  or  other  barrier:  most  of  its  permanent  citizens  known 
eacli  to  each  in  the  transaction  of  public  and  private  business,  and  not  a   few 
of  them  affected  by  ties  of  blood  and  marriage;  the  pioneer  period  only  thirty 
years  behind  and  vividly  remembered — such  a  county  is  the  natural  home  of 
an  old  settlers'  society.     So  thought  the  men  who  met  at  the  Farmers'  Hotel, 
in  the  homelike  village  of  Darien,  March  30.   [869,  organized  a  new   count) 
institution,  and  gave  the  old  and  the  young  of  Walworth  another  yearly  1 1  <  .It 
day.     A  constitution  was  adopted:  a  president,  seventeen  vice-presidents,  a 
recording  secretary,  a  corresponding  secretary,  a  treasurer,  and  five  executive 
committeemen  were  chosen;  a  day  was  fixed,  October  5,   [869,   for  the  first 
yearly  assemblage,  on  the  fairground  ai  Elkhorn;  and  this  constituent  assem 
bly  then  adjourned. 

At  the  October  meeting,  the  second  Wednesday  in  June  was  appointed 
tor  the  county  reunions;  but,  since  [875,  these  meetings  have  been  held  on 
other  June  days  and  on  other  week  day-.  The  sixth  and  seventh  mi 
were  held  at  Lake  Geneva,  the  ninth  and  tenth  at  Delavan,  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  at  Whitewater.  \11  the  other  meetings  were  held  at  the  fair  ground, 
Elkhorn. 

(13) 


194  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

It  was  resolved  June  18,  1879,  to  take  measures  to  procure  the  compila- 
tion and  publication  of  a  short,  authentic  history  of  the  county  with  some 
accounts  of  the  lives  and  characters  of  no  longer  living  pioneers;  to  urge  the 
co-operation  of  living  pioneers  and  their  children  in  the  work  of  collecting 
data;  to  appoint  a  historical  committee  to  receive  the  gathered  information 
and  to  determine  how  much  of  it  should  be  printed — the  rest  to  be  preserved 
with  the  records  of  the  society, — and  to  authorize  the  committee  to  choose  a 
suitable  person  as  editor,  who  should  prepare  the  selected  matter  for  the 
printer.  All  expense  incurred  was  to  be  paid  from  the  society's  fund  and 
from  proceeds  of  sales  of  the  finished  work.  A  special  meeting  was  held  at 
the  court  house,  September  2,  1879,  at  which  James  Simmons,  Stephen  G. 
West  and  Rev.  Joseph  Collie  were  chosen  as  the  historical  committee,  and  a 
large  sub-committee  of  one  or  more  men  of  each  town  was  appointed  for  the 
work  of  collecting  data.  The  Western  Historical  Company  (publishers),  of 
Chicago,  became  aware  of  the  society's  purpose,  and  arranged  with  the  com- 
mittee to  take  from  Mr.  Simmons  the  information — which  must  have  been 
considerable — already  accumulated,  to  finish  the  compilation,  to  canvass  the 
county,  and  to  deliver  the  completed  work  to  subscribers.  The  book  was  as 
nearly  faultless  in  plan  and  execution,  editorial  and  mechanical,  as  most 
county  histories  of  thirty  years  ago.  Many  of  its  minor  errors  might  have 
been  corrected  had  proofs  been  sent  to  Mr.  Simmons  for  revision.  The  his- 
tory of  each  town  closed  with  biographical  sketches  of  notable  citizens,  nine 
hundred  and  ten  in  all.  The  compiler.  William  G.  Cutler,  of  Milwaukee,  was 
at  almost  infinite  pains  to  secure  full  and  accurate  information.  (His  father. 
General  Lysander  Cutler,  was  one  of  the  commanders  of  the  Iron  Brigade — 
men  of  Wisconsin,  Indiana  and  Michigan — the  fame  of  which  should  be 
deathless.)     The  book  was  published  in  1882. 

The  presidents  of  the  society  have  been  men  whose  names  appear  once 
or  oftener  in  the  official  lists  of  the  county  and  its  towns,  and  hence  most 
readers  will  readily  assign  each  to  his  home  ; 

Daniel  Salisbury  -  March,   [869  Charles  R.  Beach 1879 

Le  Grand  Rockwell- -October.    [889  Stephen  Gano  West 1880 

Charles  Minton  Baker 1870,  '71  Seymour   I 'rooks 1881 

Perry  Green  Harrington 1872  Chester  Deming  Long 1882 

Cohn  William  Boyd      [873,   '74.  '"?  Cyrus  Church 1883 

George  Cotton  ■ 1876  Avery  Atkins  Hoyt 1884 

Hiram  Ashley  Johnson  1877  Julius  Allen  Treat 1885 

Otis  Preston  1878  William  Densmore  Chapin,  1 886, '93 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


195 


1887  Nelson  West 1899 

1888  Dwight  Sidney  Allen 1900,  '05 

1889  Henry  George  Hollister 1901 

1  S<  h  1           Darwin  P.  Clough 1902 

1909         Theron  Rufus  Morgan 1903 

1892          Albert  E.  Smith 1904 

1894  William  Allen  Knilans T906 

1895  Alexander  Hamilton  Allyn 1907 

iS()f>          James  S.  Reek   (of  Linn) 1908 

1897  Leonard  Cyrus  Church 1910 

1898  Walter  F    Babcock 191 1 


The  corresponding  secretary  from  1869  to  18S1  was  Edward  Elderkin, 
except  in  1872,  when  Peter  Colder  was  chosen.  The  recording  secretaries 
were : 


Carlos  Lavallette  Douglass 

Daniel  Locke 

Simon  Ruel  Edwards 

Doric  Chipman  Porter 

Washington  S.  Keats 1891, 

Herman  A.  Briggs 

George  Washington  Wylie 

\.sa  Foster 

James  Simmons 

Mortimer  Treat  Park 

William  Pitt  Meacham 


James  Simmons 1869  to   1881 

Levi  E.  Allen 1882 

Fred  Willard  [sham__i883  to   1889 
Jay  Forrest  Lyon,  1890  to  1894,  '01 

Stephen  R.  Edgerton 1895,   1896 

Henry  Henderson  Tubbs,   1897  '98 

Wallace  Hartwell 1899 

Le  Grand  Latham 1900 


Wilbur  George  \\eeks__1902.  [903 

Francis  Havilah  Fames.  1904,  1905 

John  Henry  Snyder,  Jr.,  1906,  1907 

Norton   E.   Carter 1908 

George  Olney  Kellogg r909 

Will  Edmund  Dunbar 1910 

James  Elverton  Brett 191  t 


Albert  C.  Beckwith  was  chosen  in   1894,  but  could  not  serve,  and  thus 
Mr.  Lyon  added  another  year  to  his  official  usefulness. 

The  duties  of  treasurer  have  been  well  discharged  by: 


Hollis  Latham 1869  to  1884  Fred  Willard   [sham 1901 

Charles  Wales 1885  to   1896  Charles  Dunlap 1902  to   1908 

Wallace  Hartwell.  1897,  1898,  1900  Hark)    Cornelius  Nbrris 190*)  11 

Le  Grand  Latham 1899 

These  yearly  meetings,  in  the  best  of  all  the  months,  made  opportunities 
for  a  few  hours  of  reunion  of  such  of  the  pioneer  families  as  bad  been  neigh- 
bors and  friends  in  their  eastern  homes,  but  had  long  been  separated  b\  nearh 
the  county's  width.  There  was  for  several  years  yet  so  much  of  the  pioneer 
ways  among  them  that  it  was  not  unusual  to  bring  with  them  old-fashioned 
picnic  baskets,  well  filled  with  the  richness  of  this  favored  land,  and  the  fair- 


I96  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 

ground  buildings  gave  shelter  when  needed.  Fortunate  was  the  villager  of 
Elkhorn,  who,  straying  among  the  several  groups,  found  at  lunch  time  old 
or  new  friends  from  the  county  corners.  For  that  once  in  the  twelve-month 
such  hungry,  water-mouthed  wight  might  do  as  "Governor  Hartran-uft." 
who,  it  was  told,  "h'isted  food  at  the  Eisteddfod  and  stuffed,  and  stuffed, 
and  stuffed."  It  was  a  custom,  for  a  few  of  these  earlier  years,  of  good  Elk- 
horners  to  supply  the  lunchers  with  enough  coffee,  sugar  and  cream  for  the 
day's  need.  The  pioneers  are  gone,  and  a  fourfold  cord  no  longer  hinds  the 
society,  but  a  threefold  cord  is  still  strong  enough  to  hold  together  their  suc- 
cessors. The  year's  business  is  generally  dispatched  with  little  debate  and 
less  dissenting  vote.  Domestic  and  imported  speakers  fling  about  their  spells 
of  woven  words  and  waving  arms,  thus  to  hind  indulgently  consenting  hearers 
to  their  hard  seats  and  wearying  standing  places,  alternating  with  band  play- 
ers and  douhle-quartette  singers.  Governors,  congressmen  and  eminent 
thunderers  at  the  bar  of  greater  county  seats  have  aforetime  come  this  way 
in  much  desired  June,  and  may  conic  in  long  aftertime  to  lend  the  day  each 
his  "small  peculiar,"  and  to  see  old  Walworth  in  one  of  it-  non-sectarian. 
non-partisan,  uncommercial,  unscheming  aspects. 

The  Walworth  Count)  Historical  Society  was  incorporated  August  29, 
1904,  by  ten  members  of  the  I'M  Settlers'  Society.  It  was  not  attempted,  as 
in  other  years,  to  arouse  the  indifferent,  nor  to  assemble  unknown  friends  of 
such  a  movement.  Mr.  Page  said  to  a  friend,  "Let  us  act  at  once."  Eight 
more  friends  were  ready  for  instant  action,  and  the  dream  or  hope  of  [846 
became  a  reality.  Nine  of  these  movers  were  named  in  the  first  officer  list. 
which  is  yet  unchanged  1  except  as  to  treasurer)  by  election,  resignation,  re- 
moval, or  death;  and  the  tenth  lies  in  a  soldier's  grave.  In  it-  first  report,  in 
September,  [904,  to  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin,  to  which  the 
count)  society  is  auxiliary,  was  shown  a  list  of  twenty  members.  Pursuant  to 
provisions  of  chapter  '150,  statutes  of  11)07.  a  room  in  the  basemenl  of  the 
count \  courl  building,  well  wanned  and  lighted  and  accessible,  was  in  that 
year  placed  at  the  society's  service  for  storage  of  it-  bulkier  collections 
\houi  two  hundred  feet  of  shelving  is  crowded  with  its  variously  valuable 
printed  matter.  I  low  this  societ)  sees  the  task  it  ha-  undertaken  may  he 
fudged,  perhaps,  from  the  following  extract  from  it-  reporl  for  1006: 

"This  hod)-  is  made  up  of  intelligent   members,   who  are  therefore  ca- 
pable of  doing  some  useful  work,  and  who.  h\   the  fad  of  their  membership, 
ma\   be  presumed  to  he  willing  so  to  contribute  to  the  society's  objects.      ITo 
find  and  take  some  working  part,  greal   or  -mall.  1-  to  assure  and   increa  - 
ch  one's  permanent  interest   in  the  institution  we  have  founded.     We  have 


WALWORTH     C01    NTY,    WISCONSIN.  1 97 

taken  the  first  step,  which  costs;  and  movement  forward  at  some  fair  rale, 
and  continuously,  is  but  a  just  expectation.  Neither  one  nor  a  hundred  willing 
minds  and  hands  can  do  all  that  has  been  too  long  left  undone;  hut  we  can 
gather  no  inconsiderable  fraction  of  the  records  and  memories  of  the  past 
and  tlie  passing,  and  can  move  onward  with  the  ceaselessly  coming. 

"A  great  collection  of  hooks,  pamphlets,  circulars,  maps,  charts,  diagrams, 
pictures,  autograph  letters,  and  relics  of  real  interest  is  very  desirable;  hut 
such  matter  will  accumulate  with  comparatively  little  effort.  The  most  im- 
portant division  of  our  work — one  that  may  yet  give  some  distinction  to  our 
societv — is  what  each  member  or  his  friends  may  contribute:  Manuscript 
accounts  of  early  arriving  families;  of  the  earlier  social  life;  of  long-gone 
relatives  and  esteemed  friends;  of  pioneer  road-making;  of  abandoned  high- 
wavs;  of  the  growth  of  villages;  of  church  building;  of  earlier  schools;  of 
business  development,  and  changes  therein;  of  the  decay  of  certain  industries 
and  the  causes  thereof;  of  crop-,  greatly  above  or  below  the  average;  of 
changes  in  the  county  landscape  arising  from  known  causes;  of  earlier 
caucuses,  conventions,  and  public  meetings;  of  various  phases  of  public 
opinion;  of  early  mail  communication;  of  wayside  taverns;  of  stage  routes; 
of  past  generations — how  they  lived,  how  employed  and  amused  themselves; 
where  men  and  families  came  from,  and  whither  they  went  for  greener 
graves:  of  epidemic  diseases  and  other  notable  calamities;  of  the  personal 
appearance  and  distinctive  qualities  of  men  in  public  service,  and  similarly  of 
law  vers,  physicians,  and  clergymen;  of  personal  service  in  war;  of  local  geo- 
graphical names  now  disused  or  not  found  on  maps — in  short,  of  things  the 
like  of  which  we  mis-  in  the  meager  details  of  the  histories  of  our  ancestral 
Eastern  towns,  and  which  will  he  valuable  in  many  ways  to  coming  genera- 
tions, since  they  will  show  how  men,  women  and  children  of  the  nineteenth 
and  first  decade  of  the  twentieth  centuries  lived,  thought  and  acted."' 

MEM  BER   LIST. 

Adkins,  Henry  De  Lafayette.   Elkhorn 1904 

Beckwith,  Albert  Clayton.   Elkhorn | 

Beckwitb,   Edward  Seymour   (died),   Elkhorn [904 

Hill.  Dr.  Benjamin  Jephthah,  Genoa  Junction |'M<> 

Bradley,  Henrj    (died),   Elkhorn [908 

*Bradley.  William  Mallory,  Sail    Lake  City 1905 

Brett,  Jame>  Elverton,  Springfield i9°5 

Carswell,  Orland,    Elkhorn    |'>"| 


I98  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Child,  William.   Lafayette 1906 

Cook,  Daniel   Seymour,   Whitewater 1911 

Derthick,  Edna  Lorene,  Elkhorn I9°4 

*Douglass,  Carlos  Stewart,  Fontana 1910 

Eames,  Francis  Havilah,  Elkhorn I9°4 

Fellows,  Theodore  A.  (died),  Genoa  Junction 1910 

Flanders,  Joseph  Taylor   (died),  Lyons 1909 

Frater,   George  William,   Elkhorn I9°7 

Goff,    Sidney   Clayton,    Elkhorn I9°8 

Harrington,  Grant  Dean,  Elkhorn 1910 

*Isham,  Fred  Willard,  Elkhorn 1904 

Isham,   Ruth   Eliza    (Wales),   Elkhorn 1904 

Kellogg,    George    Olney,    Elkhorn 1905 

*Kinne,  Dr.  Edward,  Elkhorn I9°4 

Larnard,  Ira  Pratt,  Delavan 1911 

Lean,   Frank  William,   Lagrange I9°5 

Lyon,  Jay   Forrest,  Elkhorn I9°4 

Meacham.  William  Pitt   (died),  Troy 1911 

Morgan,  Theron  Rufus    (died).  Elkhorn ■  1905 

Morrison.  Smith  Baker,  Elkhorn ■  I9°6 

Page.  Jaw  Wright.  Elkhorn I9°4 

Rockwell.   Le  Grand,    Elkhorn T9°6 

Skiff.  Benjamin  Franklin.   Flkhorn 1904 

Skiff,  Tris  Emeline  (Stowe),  Elkhorn I9°4 

Snyder,   Clifford   Francis.    Munich 1906 

*Snyder.   John    Henry,   Jr..    Elkhorn I9°4 

Sprague,  Edward  Harvey,  Elkhorn .  1904 

Thomas.   Katherine  Wentworth,   Elkhorn 1904 

♦Wales,  Charles  Marshall.  New  York 1904 

"West,   Walter    \anm.    Elkhorn 1004 

Mr.  Morgan  died  September  28,   [905;  E.  S.  Beckwith,  May  28,  1009; 

Henry  Bradley,  August    17.   [909;  Captain  Fellows  died  Fehruan    10.  1012; 

Mr.  Flanders,  December  [6,  [909.  Asterisks  denote  members  of  the  State 
Society.  Officers,  1904-11)11:  Beckwith,  president:  Lyon,  vice-president; 
I.  II.  Snyder,  secretary;  Kinne,  corresponding  secretary;  Eames,  librarian: 
Carswell,  treasurer;  Page,  F,  W.  [sham  and  Sprague,  executive  committee. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

EDITORSHIP AUTHORSHIP THE    FINE    ARTS. 

Since  no  country  nor  generation  of  men  is  permitted  to  foreknow  how 
much  of  its  own  literature  shall  live  and  become  classic,  it  is,  of  course,  yet 
too  early  to  say  what  and  how  much  of  the  Walworthian  product  of  seventy- 
five  vears  will  outlive  contractor-built  state  houses  and  the  everywhere  seen 
triumphs  of  statuary  art.  If  another  Sidney  Smith  should  ask  who  reads  a 
book,  goes  to  a  play,  looks  at  a  picture  or  statue,  of  Walworthian  make,  or 
what  the  world  owes  to  Walworthian  science  or  industrial  skill,  the  answer 
must  be  a  re-echo  of  the  unkindly  needless  question.  But,  if  there  is  a  great 
uncaring  world  outside  of  Walworth,  there  is,  too,  a  modestly  self-esteeming 
world-in-little  within  her  borders — one  which  lives  not  alone  by  the  products 
of  her  fertile  acres.  As  vet  it  is  true  (  not  too  true,  but  simply  true  i  that  neither 
son  nor  daughter  of  one  of  these  seventeen  towns  has  gained  greatest  dis- 
tinction in  literature  or  other  form  of  art,  or  has  greatly  enlarged  the  domain 
of  pure  or  applied  science,  or  has  added  to  the  list  of  best-selling  patent  rights. 
But  there  were  early  signs  and  are  yet  tokens  of  aspiration  in  all  these 
directions. 

The  foundations  of  written  history,  for  this  county,  were  laid  chiefly  by 
Mr.  Dwinnell,  Judges  Gale  and  Baker,  Prosper  Cravath  and  James  Simmons. 
Others  have  contributed  their  personal  recollections  and  impressions,  of  less 
historical  value,  but  interesting  and  useful.  But  if  these  five  forethoughtful 
men  had  not  made  and  preserved  notes  concerning  men  they  knew  and  events 
in  which  they  had  a  part,  the  county's  history  would  be  but  gleanings  from 
the  broken  files  of  newspaper,  from  the  sometimes  discontinuous  official  lists, 
and  from  the  meager  and  disjointed  minutes  of  clerks  and  secretaries  of  the 
courts  and  boards — often  needing  for  their  interpretation  the  intelligent  mem- 
ory of  men  long  ago  dead.  It  is  not  much  which  these  early  chroniclers  and 
annalists  have  left  to  posterity,  hut.  such  as  it  is,  it  supplies  the  <\r\  bones  of 
clerical  entries  with  -Mine  flesh  and  blood  to  give  them  more  human  aspect. 

Rev.  Solomon  A.  Dwinnell,  for  nearly  fourteen  year-  resident  in  La- 
fayette, removed  in  [850  to  Reedsburg.  lie  then  seems  to  have  planned  a 
history  of  the  pioneer  period  of  the  count)  he  had  left.  lie  made  a 
considerable    roll    of    scrappy    notes — historical,    descriptive,    reminiscent    and 


2O0  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

reflective.  His  papers  contain  autobiographical  sketches,  prepared  at  his  re- 
quest by  Dr.  Mills  and  Judge  Allen.  In  these  papers  Judge  Allen,  though  not 
excessively  diffident  nor  sparing  of  words,  tells  too  little;  while  Dr.  Mills, 
thought  quite  modest  enough  and  not  too  lavish  of  words,  tells  too  much. 
Mr.  Dwinnell  died  in  1879,  and  Mrs.  Dwinnell  gave  his  manuscripts  to  the 
State  Historical  Society,  and  part  of  their  contents  have  been  published  in 
that  body's  "Collections." 

Judge  Gale  made  sixteen  very  orderly,  legible  and  helpful  foolscap  pages 
of  notes  on  the  settlement  and  organization  of  the  county,  its  early  school 
meetings,  temperance  movements,  and  the  first  newspaper — his  own.  at  Elk- 
horn  in  1845.  He  knew  that  of  which  he  wrote,  and  his  accuracy  may  easily 
enough  be  trusted.  His  interest  in  public  affairs  was  active  and  intelligent, 
and  his  judgment  of  men  with  whom  he  acted  appears  to  have  been  calmly 
favorable — neither  censorious  nor  eulogistic. 

ludge  Baker's  chief  service  to  local  history  is  contained  in  a  paper  first 
read  at  a  meeting  of  old  settlers  in  [869,  then  revised  by  himself  and.  with 
an  introduction  by  Lyman  C.  Draper,  published  in  the  State  Historical  So- 
cietv.  sixth  volume  of  "Collections."  It  naturally  lacks  Judge  Gale's  concise- 
ness, since  it  covers  a  longer  period  of  time  and  includes  greatly  more  detail 
of  local  interest.  His  estimate  of  Judge  Irvin  proves  himself  an  indulgent 
judge  of  his  fellow  men. 

fames  Simmons  published  his  carefully  compiled  "Annals  of  Lake  Ge- 
neva." 222  pages  octavo,  in  [897.  lie  was  in  every  way  qualified  a-  to  judg- 
ment, taste  and  literary  turn  of  mind,  and  by  his  personal  knowledge  and  his 
wide  acquaintance  with  men  of  the  county,  for  the  preparation  of  this  valuable 
local  history,  lie  should  have  been,  had  other  pursuits  allowed,  the  historian 
of  the  county.  In  such  case,  his  work  would  have  l>een  done  with  all  possi- 
ble fullness  and  accuracy,  and  in  kindliest  spirit — and  in  his  own  clear,  grace- 
ful  style. 

Prosper  Cravath,  surveyor  and  lawyer,  and  not  unskilled  in  the  art  of 
telling  himself  "for  many  years  really  the  foremost  citizen  of  Whitewater" 
in  tS;N  published  his  recollections  and  impressions  of  the  village  a-  he 
knew  it  between  [837  and  [857.  This  was  in  a  series  of  articles  for  the 
Whitewater  Register.  Pitt  X.  Cravath  began  a  continuation  of  his  father's 
ik  by  compiling  from  the  local  columns  of  thai  helpful  newspaper.  His 
friend.  Spencer  S  Steele,  who  had  promised  to  share  the  proposed  labors, 
presently  found  himself  sole  compiler.  Cravath's  notes  having  been  lost,  Mr. 
Steele  u.i-  obliged  to  begin  at  [858,  and  he  carried  the  work  forward  t"  [868. 
The  Civil  war,  as  it  affected  the  town  and  village,  received   full  attention,  and 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  201 

several  circumstances  of  long  later  interest  to  soldiers  and  their  friends  are 
thus  preserved  permanently.  In  [906  these  partial  histories,  with  shod 
papers  by  Airs.  Melinda  I  Mack)  Pratt,  Julius  C.  Birge,  Mrs.  Louise  I  Wood- 
bury 1  Palmiter.  Daniel  Seymour  Cook.  Mrs.  Rachel  O.  (Shepard)  Cook, 
Edwin  D.  Coe  and  Albert  Salisbury,  were  published  as  "Annals  of  White- 
water," a  duodecimo  volume  of  283  pages,  edited  by  Prof.  Salisbury  and  pub- 
lished by  the  "Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  in  Whitewater." 

The  newspaper,  from  1845  onward,  afforded  an  outlet  for  the  breathing 
thoughts  and  unfrozen  words  of  men  who  cared  not  to  go  to  the  length  of 
pamphlet  or  book  on  politics,  temperance,  public  morals,  currency,  state  reve- 
nue and  many  another  more  or  less  fiercely  burning  question  of  their  time; 
and  on  the  less  combustible  topics  of  schools,  farmers'  interests  and  local  im- 
provements. These  articles,  even  if  unsigned,  were  often,  if  not  usually,  too 
carefully  thought  and  too  ably  and  forcibly  written  to  be  mistaken  for  edi- 
torial effort;  though  editorship  here  was  not  inferior  to  that  of  other  counties. 
At  the  least,  these  volunteer  contributors  gave  wholesome  variety  to  the 
weekly  editorial  entertainment.  Among  the  occasional  writers  now  mosl 
easily  and  clearly  recalled  were  Judges  Baker,  Gale,  Colder,  Spooner  and 
Wentworth,  Cyrus  Church.  Cravath,  Eastman,  George  Esterly,  Milton  Gard- 
ner. Osborn  Hand,  Dr.  Henderson.  Menzie,  Dr.  Reynolds,  Simmons,  H.  F. 
Smith  and  A.  S.  Spooner. 

Whatever  may  be  other  or  final  judgment  as  to  the  relative  merits  of 
these  men.  considered  as  writers,   for  the  purpose  of  this  volume.   Wvman 

S] ner  is  placed  first.      He  thought   with  deliberate  care,  and   wrote  like  a 

master  of  that  classic  English  prose  of  which  his  long  study  and  great  love 
had  availed  him  much,  preferring  "high  seriousness,"  but  not  scornful  of  oc- 
casional lighter  graces  of  literary  composition.  Mr.  Church  wrote  of  (he 
earlier  schools  of  Walworth,  in  new-paper  articles  preserved  in  the  Historical 
Society's  much-containing  scrap-books.  Mr.  Hand,  a  nearly  self-taught 
teacher  and  very  thorough  in  the  rudiments,  had  also  read  the  English  classics 
with  pleasure  and  profit:  but  his  written  matter  was  less  weighty  than 
Spooner's.  He  had  some  eccentricities  in  conversation,  but  he  wrote  candidly 
and  clearly.  Hi-;  friend.  Eastman.  loved  paradox  so  well  that  hi-  simpler- 
minded  friends  knew  not  when  he  was  sincere.  Dr.  Samuel  Win  Henderson 
wrote  in  the  spirit  of  the  duelisl  who  lire-  to  kill,  and  sometimes  illustrated 
with  hi-  own  jack-knife  "it  white  pine,  a-  wickedly  Funny  as  Nast's  pictorial 
persecution-,  though  in  other  ways  quite  unlike.  Menzie  wrote  with  much 
abilitv  and  vigor,  but  a-  if  duly  retained,  like  a  practical  lawyer.  Mr. 
Simmons  was  possessed  of  nearly  all  the  mental,  moral  and  personal  qualities, 


202  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

and  in  not  noticeably  lower  degree,  that  lie  so  generously  ascribed  to  Judge 
Baker.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  he  had  a  finer,  nicer  literary  sense  than  his 
friend;  though  one  would  not  willingly  compare  these  men  to  the  lessening  of 
either.  He  wrote  with  a  natural  grace  of  his  own  and  with  seeming  ease, 
though  his  materials  were  often  enough  collected  with  patient  care.  He  could 
write  in  terms  of  partisan  warfare,  but  that  was  not  his  chosen  task.  In  his 
later  life  he  was  employed  in  "digesting"  the  vast  bulk  of  decisions  of  the 
higher  courts  of  New  York  and  of  Wisconsin.  His  older  fellow  citizens  had 
long  hoped  that  whenever  Judge  Golder  should  lay  off  the  burden  of  the 
county  judgeship  its  honors  and  salary  would  pass  to  such  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor; but  a  little- revering  generation  gave  a  small  plurality  to  a  younger 
man,  a  nearly  newcomer,  though  Mr.  Simmons  was  second  among  four  candi- 
dates. The  other  aforenamed  writers  wrote  with  much  ability,  and  with 
more  or  less  vigor  and  elegance,  like  decently  educated  gentlemen,  but  with 
no  strongly  marked  distinctiveness  of  style. 

In  newspaper  editorship  the  highest  place  must  be  accorded,  as  his  birth- 
right and  his  conquest,  to  Edwin  Delos  Coe.  He  was  equipped  for  duty  by 
various  experiences,  as  student,  soldier,  lawyer,  before  he  began  "to  turn  the 
crank  of  an  opinion  mill"  at  Whitewater.  The  Register  had  always  been  one 
of  the  best  village  newspapers  in  the  state.  Mr.  Coe  soon  placed  it  beside  the 
"first  among  equals."  His  well-filled  local  page  reflected  his  most  likable 
personality,  and  he  was  not  hidden  or  disguised  in  his  incomparable  editorial 
column.  I  k-  wrote  with  no  air  of  superior  wisdom  or  authority,  but  bestowed 
freely  upon  his  fellow  editors  his  professional  and  personal  courtesy,  which 
fell  like  the  dew  of  ITermon  upon  the  half-deserving  and  the  nearly  undeserv- 
ing, lie  affected  nothing,  not  even  modesty,  though  never  a  man  with  a  press 
at  his  hark  was  less  self-assertive.  When  the  sterner  duty  of  a  party  organ 
called  upon  him  to  smite  and  spare  not,  his  pen  became  indeed  a  wea]>on  of 
offense.  I  If  was  wholly  free  from  editorial  or  literary  jealous),  hut  over- 
generously  gave  others  "more  praise  than  niggard  truth  would  willingly  im- 
part." In  short,  lie  brought  to  his  work'  learning,  world-knowledge,  judg- 
ment, tact,  insight,  wide-ranging  fellow  feeling,  humor,  and  with  these  all 
the  armory  of  wordy  war. 

Major  Shepard  S.  Rockwood,  an  infant  settler  of  Lafayette,  ex-soldier, 
normal  school  professor  of  literature  and  mathematics,  poet,  elocutionist  and 
scholar  in  politics,  was  in  his  own  way  as  editorially  Forceful  as  Coe  and 
more  industrious  and  laborious,  lie  wrote  with  the  precision,  directness  and 
conclusiveness  of  geometrical  demonstration.  As  a  means  to  his  political  ad- 
vancement he  bought  the  senior  paper  at   Elkhorn,  in   1882,  and   for  one  vear 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  203 

edited  even'  line  of  it,  even  to  its  stereotype  plates.  He  made  the  Independent 
a  positive  quantity  and  an  appreciable  force  in  Wisconsin  newspaperdom. 
His  hope  was  to  sit  in  the  Assembly  of  1883  and  in  the  forty-ninth  and  sub- 
sequent Congresses;  but  the  men  of  the  district  which  he  had  left  in  boyhood 
and  to  which  he  had  but  lately  returned,  knew  little  of  him,  except  that  he 
seemed  "too  far  up  the  gulch"  for  them.  Besides.  1882  was  a  politically  bad 
year  for  many  another  honorably  aspiring  citizen.  He  passed  early  in  [883 
to  a  daily  paper  at  Janesville,  and  thence  to  the  Register,  at  Portage,  where 
he  died  in  1905. 

Ely  B.  Dewing's  education  was  of  common  schools  and  printing  offices. 
He  had  an  early  liking  for  the  best  in  literature,  and  his  style  was  formed, 
not  by  conscious  or  unconscious  imitation  of  any  of  the  masters,  but  by  catch- 
ing something  of  the  breath  and  finer  spirit  of  many.  He  never  accepted  him- 
self as  a  great  writer,  and  thence,  perhaps,  was  a  greater  than  he  knew.  His 
knowledge  of  men  best  worth  knowing  was  not  so  state-wide  as  that  of  Coe, 
Rockwood  or  Cravath;  but  his  work  and  ways  were  not  provincial.  To  these 
contemporary  editors  he  was  not  a  jealous  rival,  but  a  kindred  soul.  As  act- 
ing editor  of  the  Independent  from  mid-1884  to  the  end  of  18S8.  he  gave 
that  paper  some  distinction  in  Wisconsin  pressdom.  His  was  within  that 
golden  period  when  Horace  Rublee,  John  Xagle.  Governors  Hoard  and  Peck, 
Lute  Niemann,  James  Monahan,  Nicholas  Smith.  Champion  Ingersoll  and 
Colonel  Watrous  gave  wholesome  substance  and  variously  pleasing  and  stimu- 
lant flavor  to  editorial  discussion  and  local  commentary. 

In  most  ways  different  from  these  three  rare  spirits,  though  in  his  own 
way  fit  to  make  them  four,  was  Pitt  Noble  Cravath.  Apparently  unlike'  his 
father  and  mother  in  body,  mind  and  spirit,  though,  no  doubt,  he  was  in  some 
way  their  true  heir,  he  seemed  rather  Gallic  than  Anglo-Saxon.  Tie  was 
readily  drawn  to  new  things  in  politics,  but  not  disposed  to  overturn  the  social 
order,  and  he  loved  the  clamor  of  partisan  discussion — himself  one  of  the 
noisiest,  but  least  likely  to  degenerate  to  demagogism  or  fanaticism.  The 
work  of  party  organization  was  very  much  to  his  liking.  His  paper,  al  first 
named  the  "Ptiddingstick."  was  edited  with  sufficient  vivacity  and  originality, 
but  did  not  much  reflect  his  personal  qualities.  Ili^  tongue,  organ  of  his 
impulsiveness,  might  move  him  to  much  radical  utterance:  hut  his  pen  sub- 
dued him  to  editorial  decorum.  A  second  newspaper  at  a  city  or  village  of 
Walworth  may  bring  a  little  fleeting  fame,  hut  it  requires  mure  than  brilliant 
editorship  to  make  it  live  and  support  a  family,  1  ravath  had  other  abilities, 
and  the  county  was  not  yet  ready  for  political  revolution  and   reconstruction. 

In  their  own  day  it  was  good  fortune  to  know  these  four  editors,  and  it 


204  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 

is  yet  pleasant  to  such  as  live  and  remember,  though  it  be  regretfully,  to  have 
known  them.  It  was  not  editorship  that  passed  away  with  their  death  or  re- 
tirement, but  only  the  quality  or  flavor  that  each  gave  it  from  his  own  person- 
ality. Men  whose  shadows  now  lengthen  in  the  low  westering  sun  may  re- 
call, without  morbidness,  the  memory  of  thing's  that  "come  not  back  with  time 
and  tears." 

It  would  be  as  easy  to  tell  who  first  broke  the  surface  of  the  county  with 
a  factory-made  garden  spade  as  to  name  the  first  to  "build  the  lofty  rhyme." 
She  may  have  been  one  of  the  Misses  Bigfoot,  in  Algonquin  elegiacs,  not 
translatable  without  damage  to  its  sense  and  beauty.  He  may  have  been 
Christopher  Payne,  whose  life  was  a  Homeric  epic,  and  whose  precious  manu- 
script may  have  been  destroyed  in  the  war  with  Brink.  Since  chronological 
order  is  impossible,  no  order  at  all  may  answer  here. 

If  this  county  ever  really  had  a  poet  the  critics  must  determine  between 
George  W.  Steele  and  Shepard  S.  Rockwood.  In  1904  Mr.  Steele  published 
a  small  volume,  "Dierdre,  a  Tale  of  Erin,  and  Other  Verse."  The  legends  of 
the  Celtic  maiden  are  as  numerous  as  those  of  the  Arthurian  heroines,  and 
tlu-  lawyer  of  Whitewater  owed  nothing  to  Mr.  Yeats.  It  is  not  the  general 
purpose  here  to  assort,  grade  or  appraise  the  poetic  product  of  the  county,  but 
a  few  words  may  not  lie  useless.  The  diction  and  idiom  of  these  poems  are 
English  and  intelligible,  neither  "gaud}  nor  inane."  There  is  in  them  neither 
Greek  nor  Browningese,  no  affectations  of  obsolete  words  and  grammar,  even 
those  of  Chaucerian  or  Spenserian  kind  or  flavor,  no  ingenious  coinages,  no 
new  licenses  or  excess  of  old  ones,  no  patent-applied- for  philosophy  of  life, 
nebulous  metaphysics,  questioning  of  omnipotent  purpose,  and  not  too  much 
of  Arnoldian  high  seriousness.  Neither  is  there  more  echo  of  the  ancient  and 
modern  (lassies  than  one  likes  to  meet  in  reading  new  authors.  If  these  nega- 
tives do  not  prove  this  volume  poetry,  they  may  indicate  that  the  author 
wrote  with  judgment  and  taste,  and  that  his  work  may  claim  fairly  thus  much 
ii'  'I  ice  in  this  compilation. 

The  total  sum  of  Major  Rockwood's  published  poetry  would  not  till 
more  than  ,1  vest-pocket  volume,  lie  was  not  unknown  as  a  paid  contributor 
to  Eastern  magazines,  and  wrote  poems  for  greal  occasions  One  of  his  more 
notable  efforts  "l"  the  latter  kind,  recited  in  his  intense  manner  of  declama- 
tion t"  a  state  mass  meeting  "i  Republicans  at  Madison  in  1880,  was  said  to 
have  drawn  iron  tears  down  Zachariah  Chandler's  cheeks,  lu  his  not  too 
frequent  lighter  moods  Rockwood  dropped  into  politico-satirical  lyrics;  but. 
in  general,  his  muse  was  a  well  behaved,  sobei  minded  member  of  the  sacred 
nine,  lie  had  strong  common  sense  and  well  controlled  feeling,  and  also  sense 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  .20^ 

of  poetic  form  with  feeling  for  the  sweetness  of  unheard  melody.  Thus,  his 
thought  was  not  commonplace,  his  expression  mawkish,  nor  his  lines  left 
half-filled. 

Most  spontaneous,  facile,  fluent  of  home  poets  was  in  the  fifties,  a  young 
man  of  Elkhorn,  at  once,  and  in  proportions  about  equal,  a  poet,  mechanical 
inventor,  journalist  and  critic.  Horace  Lucian  Arnold's  fast-driven  pen 
dropped  eight-syllable  rhymed  couplets  as  if  their  flow  were  endless,  and  no 
verse  form  was  beyond  its  achievement.  This  promising  young  man's  poetical 
reading  had  given  him  a  standard  for  measurement  of  his  own  product,  and 
he  was  too  self-critical  to  print  his  clever  crudities.  Nor  would  he  revise. 
recast,  or  redress  them.  It  was  easier  to  write  a  wholly  new  poem  tonight 
than  to  perfect  last  night's  work.  In  the  course  of  more  than  fifty  years  he 
has  contributed  poems,  stories,  reporter  work,  reviews,  mechanical  and  scien- 
tific discussion  to  the  press  of  Chicago,  New  York,  Edinburgh  and  elsewhere. 
Though  his  work  has  never  quite  reached  greatness,  it  is  virile,  and  it  usually 
compels  some  reader's  attention.  A  collection,  with  due  selection,  of  his 
lyrics  would  show  that  here  was  one  more  of  Walworth  to  whom  poetrv  was 
not  a  thing  of  rhyme-ends  onlv. 

The  county  has  known  and  sometimes  honored  its  own  song  writers, 
poets  of  occasions  and  casual  contributors  to  the  poet's  corner.  Rev.  Henry 
De  Lancey  Webster,  Ely  B.  Dewing.  John  L.  Forrest,  John  T.  Wentworth, 
James  Simmons.  S.  Fillmore  Bennett,  Charles  H.  Burdick  and  Mrs.  Harriet 
Marian  |  Perkins)  Leland  are  among  the  best  remembered.  Of  the  living 
there  are  many  more,  no  doubt,  than  can  be  named  here;  and  their  modest 
merit  is  known  to  a  few  friendly  readers.  Though  the  wide  world  may  never 
find  out  these  younger  children  of  the  muse,  the  sweetness  of  a  well- 
remembered  line,  stanza,  or  poem  may  linger  yet  long  in  some  kindly  memory. 
Seth  Knapp  Warren,  son  of  the  pioneer  mill  owner,  had  more  education 
and  a  better  reading  habit  than  most  of  his  schoolmates  at  Lake  Geneva,  and 
in  later  life  turned  more  than  the\  to  the  story  of  the  universe,  as  told  bj  the 

"i"  and  the  later  scientists      He  digested  his  reading  at  leasl  partially,  and 
the  resull    of  his  reading  and  thinking  or  musing  was  a   bound    volume   of 

ii\  four  small  pages,  printed  at  home  in  [888.  His  matter  is  chiefly  a 
compact  and  generall)  fairly  and  temperately  worded,  though  possibly  in- 
accurate restatement  of  the  theorj  of  evolution  a-  to  the  origin  of  stars  and 
solar  system-.  His  own  attitude  is  indicated  in  few  words  at  page  i  (.:  "Bui 
until   some  theorj    i  which   can   show    clearly   that    thi   i    natural 

powers     *     *     *     could    form   solar        stems,    with   all    their  motions,    from 
chaos  we  would  better  follow  and  teach  the  biblical  accounl  of  creation;  as  ii 


206  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN". 

is,  even  in  its  literal  sense,  the  most  reasonable  that  has  ever  been  written." 
He  objects  to  science  that  while  it  has  found  much  of  the  laws  of  the  universe, 
it  lias  wholly  failed  to  find  the  law-giver ;  and  he  shrewdly  takes  into  his  ac- 
count the  differences  he  finds  among  scientists.  His  work  had  the  approval 
of  the  late  Rev.  Isaac  N.  Marks,  of  the  Episcopal  church  at  Lake  Geneva. 
It  is  at  least  easy  to  read,  for  it  is  seasoned  with  fewest  technical  terms  and 
is  wholly  free  from  mathematical  formulae  and  scientific  tabulations.  Mr. 
Warren  wrote  and  talked  like  an  intelligent  gentleman,  and  he  had,  moreover, 
some  artistic  tastes  and  aspirations. 

In  the  art  of  musical  composition  the  county  for  long  heard  but  one 
name,  that  of  Joseph  P.  Webster,  who  came  from  Racine  to  Elkhorn  in  1857 
as  a  teacher  of  music.  Between  that  year  and  his  death  in  1875,  it  is  believed, 
he  produced  most  of  his  songs,  cantatas  and  other  compositions.  His  pub- 
lishers were  Higgins  &  Company.  Lyon  &  Healy  and  Root  &  Cady,  of  Chi- 
cago, and  Ditson,  of  Boston.  A  flood  of  newer  music  has  half-effaced  the 
recollection  of  his  once  familiar  titles,  though  nut  all  have  thus  been  retired 
from  public  favor.     The  little  story  of  one  of  these  seems  worth  preserving. 

In  1865,  L.  J.  Bates,  of  Detroit,  submitted  to  Lyon  &  Healy  the  words 
of  a  song  and  asked  for  a  suitable  composer.  He  was  advised  to  write  to 
Air.  Webster,  and  in  the  same  year  these  publishers  put  forth  "It  Will  Be 
Summertime,  By  and  By,"  words  by  L.  J.  Bates,  music  by  J.  1'.  Webster.  It 
is  not  here  known  how  much  favor  this  song  found,  but  it  is  recalled  that  it 
was  sung  at  the  dedication  of  the  Normal  School  at  Whitewater  in  1870. 
Five  four-line  stanzas,  with  each  a  varying  five-line  chorus,  contained  these 
lines,  the  second  of  each  chorus:  "Wait  we  the  dawn  of  the 
bright  by  and  by;  Watch  for  the  day-star  of  the  dear  by  and  1>\  :  I 'ray  for 
the  dawn  of  the  sweet  by  and  by;  Is  there,  oh!  is  there  a  glad  by  and  by: 
Herald  the  dawn  of  the  blest  by  and  by."  The  closing  lines  of  these  choruses 
were:  "It  will  lie  summertime  by  and  by;  Earth  will  be  happier,  bv  and  by; 
Truth  will  be  verified,  by  and  by;  Faith  will  be  justified,  by  and  by;  Right 
will  be  glorified,  by  and  by."  The  principal  lines  recited  the  several  wrongs 
endured  by  poor  humanity. 

These  lines  seemed  to  Mr.  Webster  to  express  the  thought  which  he  had 
no  skill  to  utter  but  in  music,  and  their  writer  became  at  once  his  dear  friend. 
One  of  these  phrases  he  repeated  so  often  that  another  song-writer  in  1868 
fol'owed  its  hint  and  gave  it  a  new  setting.  Mr.  Webster  went  home,  and 
choosing  from  his  store  of  musical  memoranda  that  which  besl  suited  his  sense 
of  the  occasion's  propriety,  he  worked  out  with  his  habitual  care  and  patience 
the  "Sweet    By  and   By."  on  which  the  world  lias  been   pleased  to  rest   his 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  20/ 

fame  as  a  composer.  For  him  there  was  no  such  word  as  '"impromptu"  in  art. 
Passages,  long  01  short,  might  he  "inspired,"  but  the  entire  and  perfect  work 
must  be  reached  by  the  methods  of  other  artists,  lie  worked  by  the  laws  of 
his  own  intellect  and  feeling,  which  he  obeyed  because  he  could  not  suspend 
or  change  them.  He  was  self-critical,  and  he  knew  well  when  he  could  work 
and  when  he  must  wait.  Xo  publisher  could  urge  him,  no  fellow-composer 
advise  him,  no  friend  lead  him.  He  was  little  critical  as  to  the  literary  quality 
of  songs  offered  him.  but  only  required  that  their  sentiment  should  be  humane 
and  decent,  and  that  harsh  consonantal  sounds  should  be  filed  to  smoothness. 

Frank  S.  Harrington  I  1 854-1909),  a  son  of  Nicholas  M.  Harrington,  of 
Delavan  and  Darien,  became  at  an  early  age  a  singer  of  more  than  usual  prom- 
ise. Fncouraged  by  the  friendly  appreciation  and  advice  of  Professor  Web- 
ster, he  subjected  himself  to  thorough  training  in  the  principles  of  musical 
composition,  and  for  several  years  was  known  to  eastern  publishers  as  a  com- 
poser of  organ  music.  At  the  time  of  bis  death  he  seemed  on  the  way  to 
greater  distinction  in  his  art. 

The  schools  of  Boston.  London,  Paris  and  Rome  have  drawn  from  the 
county  several  pupils  of  the  higher  culture  and  instruction  in  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music.  The  art  of  hearing  music  is  also  cultivated,  and  the  lights  of 
the  operatic  or  lyric  stage  draw  yearly  hundreds  of  hearers  to  Chicago  and 
Milwaukee,  each  for  at  least  one  evening's  soul-felt  delight.  Such  singers  and 
performers  of  national  fame  as  do  not  scorn  the  smaller  audiences  find  ap- 
preciative hearers  at  the  cities  of  Walworth.  Local  philharmonic  clubs  lend 
their  not  negligible  influence  to  elevate  the  public  taste  for  immortal  music. 
In  olden  time,  too,  the  county  has  had  its  string  bands,  cornetists,  flutists, 
pianists  and  vocalists,  their  various  performances,  once  thought  incompara- 
ble, yet  recalled  as  remembered  pleasures. 

The  palette  and  brush  have  drawn  many  young  men  and  maidens  aside 
from  commoner  things,  though  few  have  persevered,  and  fewer  are  within 
any  one  person's  present  recollections.  This,  of  course,  by  reason  of  their 
long  absence.  One  of  these  was  John  Bullock,  at  Lake  Geneva,  who  painted 
landscapes  with  some  success  and  who  seemed  born  for  further  achievement 
hail  not  fate  been  untoward.  David  Walling  Humphrey,  a  school  boy  at 
Elkhorn  and  art  student  at  Chicago,  has  won  recognition  among  artists. 
William  T.  Thorne,  of  Delavan,  has  reached  a  high  place  as  a  portrait  painter, 
and  has  his  studio  at  New  York.  Adolph  T.  Schultz,  also  of  Delavan,  lianas 
his  landscapes  at  the  Chicago  Art  Institute.  Clifford  Francis  Snyder,  of  Elk- 
born,  practiced  as  a  doctor  of  dental  surgery  for  some  years  at  Berlin,  having. 
though  a  young  man.  imperial  patronage,  for   American  dentistry  was  then  in 


208  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

high  favor  there.  He  sold  his  business  and  placed  himself  under  Benjamin 
Constant's  instruction  at  Paris,  and  later  under  that  of  Albert  Nieuwhuis,  at 
Laren,  Holland.  From  boyhood  his  aptness  in  portrait  drawing  was  marked. 
He  went  in  jcjoo  to  "Munich,  there  to  sojourn,  it  may  be,  until  overtaken  by 
fame,  wealth,  or  death. 

Oratory,  as  an  art.  has  had  here  but  one  true  votary,  namely,  John 
Luther  Lamkin  (1854-1896),  of  that  part  of  Sharon  town  called  South 
Grove.  He  wedded  himself  to  a  possibly  original  theory  of  his  art:  in  effect, 
that  voice  and  action  are  all, — if,  only  the  voice  be  trained  to  the  hoarseness 
of  thunder  and  the  action  be  suited  to  the  orator's  conception  of  the  beauti- 
fully terrific  in  muscular  motion.  His  words  need  have  no  meaning,  if  but 
polysyllabic  and  sonorous.  He  imagined  or  boasted  that  he  could  crack  a 
plate  glass  window  by  an  abrupt  emission  of  sound  from  the  lower  cells  of  his 
lungs.  But  Lamkin  threw  thunderbolts  gracefully,  and  his  meeting,  saluting, 
passing,  parting,  even  on  the  street,  were  fine-art  illustrations.  For  the 
rest,  he  was  a  thrifty  farmer  and  a  worthy  citizen. 

Since  1856  the  only  lawyers  who  seem  to  have  cultivated  a  great  forensic 
style  were  Norton  and  Ingalls.  William  C.  Norton  was  son  of  a  farmer  of 
Lafayette.  I  lis  voice  and  manner  were  somewhat  dramatic.  Inn  lie  was  re- 
garded as  a  forceful  speaker.  None  better  than  he  could  raise  an  ant-hill 
matter  to  the  height  of  the  tree  tops,  and  none  could  better  move  his  client 
to  self-pitying.  Wallace  [ngalls,  a  native  of  Linn,  acquired  an  agreeable  and 
effective  delivery  and  never  forgot  to  adjust  his  words  and  actions  to  the 
needs  of  his  carefully  considered  matter.  Alphonso  G.  Kellam,  Alfred  D. 
Thomas,  Thompson  1).  Weeks  and  Charles  B.  Sumner  never  attempted  the 
higher  flights;  but  the)  are  Favorablj  remembered  for  their  clear,  candidly 
persuasive  and  gentlemanly  manner  of  laying  their  cases  before  jurors — often 
the  most  effective  eloquence.  Each  of  these  men  was  often  called  upon  as 
speaker  for  more  public  occasions.  None  of  them,  excepl  [ngalls,  now  at 
Racine,  is  yet  living. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

MISCELLANEOUS    ITEMS    OF    INTEREST. 

The  formation  of  local  temperance  societies  began  at  Spring  Prairie  as 
early  as  1838.  In  this  work  the  men  and  women  of  Delavan,  Elkhorn,  Geneva, 
and  Whitewater  were  but  a  few  weeks  or  months  behind  Mr.  Dwinnell's 
neighbors.  At  Lake  Geneva.  December  25,  1839,  a  temperance  society  was 
formed  by  fifty  citizens,  at  Mr.  Baker's  house:  Benjamin  Ball,  president; 
John  Chapin,  vice-president;  Charles  M.  Baker,  secretary;  Charles  M.  Good- 
sell,  William  K.  May  and  Morris  Ross,  executive  committee.  In  the  autumn 
of  1843  a  county  society  of  Wasbingtonians  was  formed  at  a  meeting  as- 
sembled at  the -court  house.  Its  officers  were  Doctor  Mills,  president ;  William 
A.  Bartlett  and  Jarvis  K.  Pike,  vice-presidents;  James  Simmons,  secretary; 
George  Gale,  treasurer;  James  O.  Eaton,  Solomon  A.  Dwinnell  and  Expe- 
rience Estabrook,  executive  committee.  No  further  record  of  this  societv  is 
found,  but  among  well-remembered  and  oft-repeated  names  of  organizers  and 
sympathizers  are  those  of  Ball,  Baker,  the  Goodsells,  Hall,  Lake.  McNish, 
the  Phoenixes,  Potter,  the  Spooners,  Sturtevant,  Topping  and  Vail. 

These  early  movements  were  followed  by  a  continuous  line  of  societies 
similar  in  form  and  devoted  to  like  purpose,  namely:  By  moral  suasion  to 
induce  men  to  become  total  abstainers  from  the  products  of  the  distillery, 
brewery,  wine-vat  and  cider-press  Closely  after  them  came,  first,  the  Sons  of 
Temperance,  then  the  Good  Templars. — both  continuing  with  varying  acti\it\ 
and  energy  until  all  such  societies,  with  their  doctrines  and  rituals,  became 
supplanted  by  or  merged  in  politically  organized  prohibitionism.  Hut  the 
growth  of  total  abstinence,  as  a  habit  of  life  rather  than  as  a  moral  dogma 
professed,  is  not  exactly  measurable  by  the  number  of  votes  counted  lor  the 
Prohibitionist  party  ticket. 

Until  1871  the  statutory  fee  for  bar-room  license  was  nol  less  than  twen 
ty-five  nor  more  than  fort)  dollars.  In  1873  the  higher  limit  was  made  one 
hundred  dollars,  and  in  [874  one  hundred  and  fiftj  dollars.  |n  September, 
1889.  pursuant  to  a  new  statute,  the  villages  voted  separately  to  determine  if 
flu-  fee  should  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
dollar-,   or  five  hundred  dollars,  and   the   highest    sum   prevailed.      When   the 

(14) 


2IO  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

license  fee  was  lowest  it  went,  appropriately  enough',  to  the  poor  fund :  when 
increased  it  went  to  road  and  street  fund ;  it  is  now  part  of  the  general  fund 
of  cities,  villages  and  towns.  The  effect  of  the  higher  fee  has  not  heen 
to  reduce  the  number  of  drinking  places — nor,  perhaps,  to  increase  it.  though 
there  are  more  licenses  issued  than  before. 

CIVIC    SOCIETIES. 

The  several  affiliated  societies,  fraternal  and  benevolent,  found  here  at 
once  a  friendly  atmosphere;  for,  within  and  without  the  lodge  rooms,  Wal- 
worth is  sociable  and  neighborly.  Freemasonry  began  almost  with  the  villages, 
and,  though  it  has  felt  some  alternations  of  zeal  and  luke-warmth,  it  has  with- 
stood the  assaults  of  well-meaning  opponents  at  home  and  of  wandering 
apostles  from  Wheaton.  It  was  never  healthier  in  body  and  spirit  than  it  is 
here  in  1911.  Its  feminine  ally,  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star,  also  finds  favor 
here  as  elsewhere  about  the  states.  The  list  of  lodges,  past  and  present,  is 
shown  as  follows: 

Harmony  Xo.  12,  Delavan  (with  Elkhorn),  discontinued  in  1859. 

St.  James  No.  41,  East  Troy,  chartered  in  1853. 

Geneva  No.  44,  Lake  Geneva,  chartered  in  1853. 

St.  John's  No.  $y.  Whitewater,  chartered  in  1855. 

Elkhorn  No.  yy.  Elkhorn,  chartered  in   1856. 

Sharon  No.   116,  Sharon,  chartered  in    [859. 

Delavan  No.  121,  Delavan,  chartered  in   [860. 

I  >arien  No.  126,  Darien.  chartered  in   i860. 

Spring  Prairie   No.    1  .V-  Spring   Prairie,  discontinued    1904. 

Geneva  Junction  Xo.  250,  Geneva  Junction,  chartered  in   [894. 

Walworth  Xo.  286,  Walworth,  chartered  in  [903. 

There  are  Four  Royal  Arch  chapters:  Elkhorn  Xo.  17.  Union  1  at  Lake 
Geneva)  Xo.  28,  Delavan  Xo.  38,  Whitewater  Xo.  00.  A  commandery  of 
the  Masonic  degrees  of  knighthood,  at  Delavan,  is  numbered  33. 

Odd  Fellowship  had  also  an  early  foothold,  and  ha^  not  yel  yielded 
wholly  to  the  rivalry  of  the  younger  orders.  Knights  of  Pythias,  Modern 
Woodmen,  Catholic  Knights  and  Knights  of  Columbus  have  each  established 
their  claim  to  recognition  as  a  part  of  modern  social  life. 

The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  its  membership  limited  by  the  lives 
of  one  generation  of  men,  is  by  that  circumstance  peculiarly  conditioned.  Its 
normal  growth  was  rapidly  upward,  reaching  its  maximum  within  a  few  years, 
after  which  it^  course  must  he  steadily  downward  until  nothing  hut  its  records 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  211 

and  its  few  relics  shall  be  left  as  reminders  that  such  a  post-bellum  comrade- 
ship once  existed.     Its  several  posts  are  named  and  numbered  thus: 

Abraham  Lincoln  No.  3,  Darien ;  George  H.  Thomas  No.  6,  Delavan ; 
James  B.  McPherson  No.  27,  Lake  Geneva;  Charles  E.  Curtice  No.  34.  White- 
water; Rutherford  B.  Hayes  No.  76.  Elkhorn;  Henrv  Conklin  No.  171.  East 
Troy ;  Duane  Patten  No.  270,  Sharon. 

TURTLE    CREEK    DRAINAGE    DISTRICT. 

Proceeding  under  provisions  of  chapter  419,  statutes  of  1905.  two-thirds 
or  more  of  the  interested  owners  of  land  lying  along  Turtle  creek  and  marsh 
filed  their  petition,  November  1,  1908,  to  the  circuit  court  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Turtle  Creek  Drainage  District.  Charles  Dunlap,  Henry  D. 
Barnes  and  John  G.  Meadows  were  appointed  commissioners,  and  took  the 
oath  of  office  April  19,  1909.  Thev  were  empowered  to  survey  and  determine 
such  ditch  lines  as  they  should  find  practical  and  expedient,  to  appraise  bene- 
fits and  damages,  and  on  acceptance  of  their  report  to  let  the  contract  and  see 
it  faithfully  performed.  Henry  H.  Tubbs  was  employed  as  civil  engineer. 
There  were  several  ineffectual  remonstrances  received  and  filed,  and  on  June 
26,  191 1.  the  contract  was  filed.  The  work  is  practically  begun.  The  main 
ditch  begins  in  section  14  of  Richmond,  and  ends  in  section  6  of  Delavan,  its 
course  generally  that  of  the  creek.  Its  length  is  5.94  miles,  depth  four  to 
seven  feet,  with  a  fall  of  14.93  teet-  Four  lateral  ditches — one  from  section 
19  of  Sugar  Creek — have  a  total  length  of  5  25  miles,  with  fall  varying  be- 
tween 9.15  and  [5.2  feet.  These  nearly  eleven  miles  of  ditching  and  dredging 
will  cost  nearly  $38,000,  and  will  drain  3.188  acres.  The  work  includes  thirty- 
four  bridges  or  crossings. 

TROY  DRAINAGE  DITCH. 

A  similar  petition  of  owners  along  the  great  Hone)  creek  marsh  was 
filed  in  the  circuit  clerk's  office  April  13.  [910.  Judge  Belden  appointed  Walter 
A.  Babcock,  Charles  H.  Nott  and  George  B.  Cain  as  commissioners  and  these 
men  took  the  official  oath  October  8,  [910.  (  In  this,  as  in  the  other  com- 
mission, the  member  first  named  is  chairman,  the  second  is  secretary,  and  the 
third  is  treasurer.)  Their  report  has  been  accepted,  the  contract  will  be  let 
early  in  T912.  and  the  work  will  begin  without  delay.  The  main  ditch,  from 
a  point  in  section  25  to  a  point  near  the  middle  of  section  31,  is  3.375  miles 
long,  two  to  twelve   feet  deep,  and  lias  eighteen    feet    fall.     There  are  seven 


212  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

lateral  ditches  with  total  length  of  8.75  miles.  These  ditches  will  be  crossed 
by  thirty-eight  bridges,  one  of  which  will  cost  $1,500.  This  work  will  re- 
cover or  improve  4,832  acres  of  land,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  850,000. 

COUNTY  COMMISSIONER  OF  ROADS. 

At  the  session  of  the  county  board,  November,  191 1,  Herman  J.  Peters, 
of  Sharon,  was  chosen  county  commissioner  of  roads.  This  was  in  accord- 
ance with  a  statute  providing  for  a  state  system  of  road-making. 

ASSESSOR  OF  INCOME  TAX. 

Pursuant  to  a  statute  of  19]  1  the  office  of  supervisor  of  assessments  has 
been  abolished,  and  that  of  assessor  of  income  tax  created.  The  first  ap- 
pointee, in  19 1 2,  is  William  Francis  Dockery,  of  Whitewater. 

THE   SPECULATIVE   SPIRIT. 

Not  every  man  of  older  Walworth  was  entirely  content  to  hoe  in  prairie 
mould  or  drudge  in  village  labor  for  plain  subsistence  and  scant\"  savings. 
Hardy  men  went,  in  iN-|.<)  and  after  years,  around  Cape  Horn  and  across 
plains  and  Sierras  fur  the  gold  of  California  and  Pike's  Peak,  and  a  few 
came  back  rich  in  one  kind  of  experience.  Other  men,  in  another  way  adven- 
turous, confided  part  of  their  little  surplus  to  the  keeping  of  the  beneficent 
lottery,  and  the  example  of  one  who  drew  $3,000  was  for  long  set  forth  in 
Mons.  Dauphin's  advertisements  and  circulars  as  proof  that  they  only  can 
win  greatly  who  risk  a  little.  Thu>.  the  sanguine  projectors  and  reckless 
schemers  ol  a  later  period  did  not  break  new  ground  here. 

The  return  of  gold  and  silver  to  general  circulation,  after  seventeen 
years  of  irredeemable  paper  currency,  gave  rebirth  to  business  of  every  kind 
in  1X71).  Monetary  panics  were  thought  to  have  been  at  last  retired  to  the 
limbo  of  serfdom,  judicial  torture,  the  death  penalty  for  petty  felonies,  and 
other  relics  of  the  barbarous  pasl  Confidence  soon  became  extravagant 
hope — prolific  parent  of  a  few  successes  and  many  failures.  Speculators  of 
the  type  of  -elf  deluded  John  Law,  of  Lauriston,  and  operators  of  the  tribe 
of  Montague  Tigg,  of  Pall  Mall,  flung  their  enchantments  broadcast,  and 
with  such  effecl  that  for  a  few  months  not  a  few  men  seemed  so  bereaved  of 
their  usually  better  judgment  thai  prudence  was  out  of  date  and  even  com: 
men  ial  honoi  a  barren  ideality.  Projects,  from  legitimate  to  lawless,  inviting 
inexperienced  investors,  increased  like  insects,  and  men's  day-dreams  and  mi- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  213 

sound  sleep  were  rilled  with  visions  of  sudden  wealth.  Among  the  myriad 
temptations  were  lots  in  new  cities  of  the  South  and  West  and  in  new  sub- 
urbs of  old  cities  everywhere  between  tbe  poles,  farm  lands  from  Assiniboia 
to  the  Arctic  circle,  mines  of  all  the  metals  from  aluminum  and  antimony  to 
yttrium  and  zirconium  and  of  minerals  from  anthracite  to  zinc-blende,  rail- 
ways across  every  continent,  oil  wells,  silk  without  cocoons, — in  fine,  gold 
from  seawater,  sunbeams  from  cucumbers,  something  from  nothing. 

Most  of  these  several  short  roads  to  riches  were  in  effect  one:  to  buy 
printed  certificates  of  shareholding  and  watch  the  markets  hourly  for  first 
indications  of  coming  showers  of  the  world's  chief  desire.  A  local  annalisl 
has  told  of  one  who.  living  but  to  make  his  fellowmen  quick-process  mil- 
lionaires, took  real  estate  and  personal  property  in  exchange  for  shares  and 
came  to  own  one-sixth  part  of  the  area  of  his  home  village.  There  were 
about  a  dozen  of  these  guides  to  Aladdin's  cave  who  were  citizens  of  the 
countv,  most  Of  whom  were  involved  with  their  clients  in  the  collapse  of 
their  undertakings.  The  period  of  greatest  local  interest  to  investors  and 
onlookers  was  1885-7.  The  county  was  not,  as  a  whole,  made  poverty 
stricken,  and  speculation  did  not  end  with  the  memorable  rise  and  fall  of  thai 
period,  but  became  of  less  public  concern. 

MELODRAMA  IN  COURT. 

A  tragi-comic  affair  was  said  in  the  next  day's  Independent  to  have 
taken  place  at  an  evening  session  of  the  circuit  court.  March  31,  [859.  A 
man  most  improbably  named  "Burorecy"  flung  a  tobacco  quid  at  somebody 
within  the  bar.  The  shot  hit  ex-Judge  Cowdery's  bald  seal])  and.  ricochetting, 
struck  Judge  Xoggle's  left  eye.  The  startled  Judge  losl  his  balance  and 
knocked  over  a  lamp  filled  with  the  compound  of  camphene  and  alcohol,  then 
sold  as  "burning  fluid,"  spilling  it-  extra-dangerou  contents  upon  Sheriff 
Stone  and  thence  upon  ex-Sheriff  Pern,  whose  coat  tails  caught  fire.  In 
the  sudden  movements  of  men—  tor  a  wonder,  in  the  dark  -the  clerk's  bai 
was  nearly  broken,  the  stove-drum  and  pipe  knocked  down,  and  a  general 
combat  followed  in  which  Messrs.  Clarke,  Farr,  Keep.  Kellogg,  Lyon  and 
Menzie  were  more  or  less  battered  or  ruffled.  Oi  course,  tin-  account  was 
intentionally  made  extravagant  and  impossible,  M,  to  confuse  the  public  mind 
as  to  what  had  actually  taken  place, — which,  most  likely,  was  some  breach  of 
court  decorum  by  two  lawyers  not  named.  Tin-  date  of  publication,  too, 
may  have  helped  to  suggesl  to  reader-  thai  all  this  was  but  the  local  reporter's 
"joke  of  the  season."     But   FTotchkiss  &   Leland  were  to.,  editorially  caution- 


214  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

to  take  such  liberty  with  the  names  of  judges,  sheriffs,  and  lawyers  without 
some  slight  foundation  of  truth  for  it.  The  fact  that  the  following  Tuesday 
was  judicial  election  day  may  have  disposed  Xoggle,  Keep  and  Lyon  to  let 
the  voters  laugh  the  matter  into   forgiveness  and  speedy  forget  fulness. 

EARLY    EDUCATIONAL    EFFORTS. 

Before  a  system  of  common  schools  could  1>e  evolved  children  were  as- 
sembled in  small  groups  at  the  larger  log  dwellings  for  private  instruction. 
Many  of  the  teachers  were  moved  by  their  sense  of  duty  toward  those  whose 
education  seemed  too  likely  to  be  arrested  indefinitely — for  some  of  them — in- 
effect,  to  the  marring  of  all  later  life.  Such  names  of  these  teachers  as  have 
been  preserved  from  the  wreck  of  the  unrecorded  past,  and  are  available  for 
present  use,  are  too  few  for  imposing  tabulation.  Dates  assigned  to  teachers 
at  Elkhorn  are  conjectural,  but  nearly  correct. 

In  1837  Mrs.  Rebecca  A.  Vail,  in  a  room  over  Andrew  Ferguson's  store, 
at  Lake  Geneva.  She  was  the  wife  of  James  W.  Vail,  an  early  settler  of 
East  Troy,  and  afterward  lived  at  Milwaukee. 

1839. 

Louisa  Augier,  at  East  Troy ;  daughter  of  Robert  Augier,  of  that  town 
Mary  S.  Brewster  (1816-1910),  at  Spring  Prairie,  daughter  of  Deodat 
Brewster,  of  Geneva   (Mrs.  Edward   Pentland). 
Julia  Dyer,  at  Delavan. 
Mrs.  Ladd,  of  Mukwonago,  at  Troy. 
Juliette  Merrick,  at  Gardner's  Prairie;  daughter  of  ('"1.  Perez  Merrick. 

1 840. 

Olive   Hooker   (aged    fourteen),  at   Lafayette:  twenty  pupils. 

Mary  S.  Brew ster,  1  '.cne\ ,1. 

Ruth  A.  Bunnell,  Lafayette. 

Lydia  ( "an-,  Elkhorn. 

Mrs.   Mary  Carter.  Darien. 

Hannah  M.  ("lark.  Walworth:  eighteen  dollars  for  summer  term. 

Melissa  I  Cornish,  I  .agrange. 

I"lm   M     Lewis,   Walworth:  eighty  dollars   Tor  winter  term. 

Chester  I).  Long,  Darien.  winter  term. 

Adeline   Met Yaeken.  Sugar  (reek. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  21 5 

Theodoras  Bailey  Northrop,  Lafayette;  private  school,  term  finished  by 
Eben  Whitcomb. 

Sheldon  C.  Powers,  of  East  Troy,  at  Whitewater;  district  school. 
Mrs.  Adeline  M.   (Seaver)   Carter. 
Dr.  John  Stacy,  of  and  at  Lake  Geneva. 
Airs.  Electa  (King)  Ward,  Bloomfield. 
Mrs.  Moses  D.  Williams.  Walworth. 

[841. 

Mary  S.  Brewster,  Elkhorn :  district  school. 
Edward  Elderkin,  Elkhorn. 
Sarah  Perrin.  Lafayette. 

1842. 

Marietta  Chapman,  Lafayette;  fifteen  pupils. 
George  W.  Hoyt,  of  Rochester,  Lafayette;  winter  term. 
Harriet  Lyon.  Hudson,  a  daughter  of  David  Lyon. 
J.  B.  Hunt,  Whitewater. 

I  843- 

Adelaide  C.  Beardsley — at  first  for  religious  instruction,  afterward  a 
district  teacher  at  Elkhorn. 

Lydia  Chapman,  Lafayette  (Mrs.  Edward  Winne). 
Henry  Farrington,  Lafayette. 
Gracia  Ward,  Linn. 

NOTEWORTHY    EVENTS. 

Generally,  events  here  noted  are  not  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  work. 
Many  more  of  at  least  equal  interest  might  have  been  included  had  the)  been 
within  the  narrow  range  of  one  person's  knowledge  or  opportunities  for  find- 
ing and  placing  them  in  true  order  of  time. 

July  10,  1836. — Colonel  Phoenix  preached  to  fifteen  persons — all  the 
neighborhood  but  one  family — at  Dr.  Hememvay's.  Four  of  these  professed 
religion.  Daniel  Salisbury  prayed,  and  all  sang.  Jul)  17th.  the  Colonel 
preached  to  the  Hemenway  family,  Palmer  Gardner,  David  I 'ran  and  daugh- 
ter, and  Mr.  Salisbury.  Two  of  these  nodded  and  Doctor  Hemenway  fell 
fast  asleep.     At  the  close  of  service  seven  more  persons  came  in. 

July  4.  1837. — A  dance  al  Othni  Beardsley's  house,  Troy. 


2l6  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

June  15.  1839. — William  Birge  vs.  Willard  B.  Johnson,  first  suit  dock- 
eted in  Zerah  Mead,  Esq.'s  court,  Whitewater.  In  this  year  a  sovereign's 
court,  for  settling  disputed  land  claims,  was  assembled  at  Whitewater.  A 
territorial  road  was  made  from  Rochester  to  Madison,  through  Spring  Prairie, 
Troy,  Lagrange  and  Whitewater. 

lulv    4.    [840. — Celebration    at    Whitewater.      Dr.    James    McNisih,    of 
.Geneva,   spoke  on   intemperance   and    slavery,   at    William   Birge's   big  barn. 
Milwaukee  Weekly  Sentinel  taken  by  subscribers  at  Whitewater. 

\pril  25,  1842. — A  county  agricultural  society  organized. 

1843. — A  series  of  revivalist  meetings  held  at  Whitewater. 

1844. — A  good  harvest  season;  wheat,  twenty-five  bushels  per  acre.  Tax 
on  Whitewater  Hotel  eighty-four  cents. 

August  8,  1845. — Date  of  Western  Slur,  Elkhorn,  Vol.  1.  Xo.  1. 

1841;.  1850,  1851. — A  series  of  increasingly  had  years  for  farmers,  called 
the  "pink-eye  years." 

[851.-    A   flood  swept  away  several  dams  in  the  southern  towns 

[854-    An  epidemic  of  Asiatic  cholera. 

lune  — ,  1858.      Dams  at  Duck  Lake  and  Lyons  bursted  by  freshet. 

1 800. — An  exceptional  year  for  wheat  crop.  The  county's  surplus  esti- 
mated at  one  million  bushels.  The  crop  for  the  state  was  largest  of  any 
in  the  union. 

April  2,  [867. — Willis  Clarke,  colored,  elected  town  sealer  for  White- 
water. 

[873-4. — Organization  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry — Grangers — through- 
out the  county. 

Inly  23,  1874. — Destructive  hurricane  at  Lake  Geneva. 

Augusl  — .  1875. — N.  1\.  Fairbank,  of  Chicago,  placed  six  thousand 
young  hass  in  Geneva  Lake  ami  built  hatcheries. 

lanuarv  8,    1881.    County  clerk  sold  park   feme  to  Jacob  KLetchpaw. 

Max    [8,  [883.      \  destroying  whirlwind  passed  over  southern  towns. 

August  — ,  1889—  \  hoard  of  pension  examiners  appointed  to  sit  at 
Elkhorn  Drs.  Benoni  O.  Reynolds,  William  Henry  Hurlbut  and  George 
I  lenry  Young,  Jr. 

May  <>,  [890.      Mr.  Simmons  noted  a  snowfall  at  Lake  Geneva. 

April  26,   [893.     George  Streng,  at  Troj   village,  killed  a  burglar. 

fuly  7.  180;.  Steamer  "Dispatch,"  with  six  passengers,  sunk  in  one 
hundred  and  ten  feel  of  water,  Geneva   I  ake,  1>\   a  hurricane. 

September  1.  1007. — Barbers  of  the  count)  raised  shaving  rates  to  fif- 
teen cents 

\la\  20.   [909.     Earthquake  tremor  felt  at  Elkhorn  and  elsewhere. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  2IJ 


DAIRY  INTERESTS. 


Statistics  of  dairy  industries  for  191 1  show  five  milk  condensing'  fac- 
tories: H.  M.  Clark's,  at  Delavan;  Wisconsin  Butter  and  Cheese  Company, 
at  Elkhorn  (nearly  read}'  for  work)  ;  Borden  Milk  Condensing  Company,  at 
Genoa  junction:  American  Milk  Company,  at  Sharon:  Walworth  Milk  Con- 
densing Company,  at  Walworth.  At  Lake  Beulah  is  a  factory  for  making 
"fancy"  cheeses.  At  Fayetteville,  Jacobsville  and  North  Geneva  are  "skim- 
ming stations"  of  the  Wisconsin  Butter  and  Cheese  Company. 

The  several  creameries  are  distributed  and  named  as  here  shown  : 

Adams Adams      Little  Prairie Little  Prairie 

Bloomfield Bloomfiekl      Lyons   Lyons 

Bowers Bloomfield  Centre      Lyons    Spring   Valley 

Darien   Darien      Richmond East   Richmond 

Darien Fairfield      Richmond j.  L.   Kilkenny  Factory 

East  Delavan East  Delavan      Richmond Town  Line 

East  Troy East  Troy      Sharon North  Sharon 

Elkhorn Springfield Springfield 

Wisconsin  Butter  &-  Cheese  Co.      Spring  Prairie Spring  Prairie 

Geneva Honey  Hill  Cheese  and  Creamery  Co. 

Heart  Prairie Heart  Prairie     Troy Troy  Co-operative 

Honey  Creek Honey  Creek     Whitewater Marr's 

Lake    Geneva Whitewater Union  Produce  Co. 

Lake  Geneva  Milk  &  Creamery  Co.     Zenda Foresl  <  Hen 

Dairv  production,  as  reported  for  1910,  showed  4,754,48]  pounds  ol 
butter,  or  four  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the  production  of  sixty-six  counties; 
and  147.400  pounds  of  cheese.  Walworth  was  third  in  creamery  production, 
and  in  fifty-six  counties  was  forty-second  in  cheesemaking.  Amount  re- 
ceived for  all  dairv  products  was  $1,438,888.  The  whole  number  of  cows 
milked  was  26,022. 

EARLY   BIRTHS. 

The   following  list  of   earlier   births   within  the   county,    though    not    in 
each  instance  verified  by  reference  to  public  or  family  record,  musl  be  nearl] 
correct.    Names  marked  *  are  of  buys  who  became  soldiers  oi  the  Civil  war: 
July       j,   1836 — Geneva,  daughter  of  lame-  Van  Slyke,  Geneva;  died   fune, 
1856. 


2l8  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Sept.  27,   1836 — William  Pitt,  son  of  Urban  D.  Meacham,  Troy;  died  No- 
vember 3,  191 1. 

June  — ,   1837 — Henry,  son  of  Israel  Williams,  Jr.,  Linn. 

July      8,   1837— Clara  Anna,  daughter  of  William  Bell,  Walworth. 

Aug.   11,   1837 — Alfred  Delavan,  son  of  Salmon  Thomas,  Darien;  died  1896. 

Sept.   14,   1837 — Sarah  M.,  daughter  of  Sylvester  G.  Smith,  Spring  Prairie. 

Oct.    12,   1837 — Tirzah  Amelia,  daughter  of  Luke  Taylor,  Darien. 

Oct.    12,   1837 — Harriet,  daughter  of  Joseph  Whitmore,  Spring  Prairie. 

Oct.    12,   1837 — *Darwin  K.,  son  of  William  K.  May,  Linn. 

Nov.  — ,   1837 — Mahala,  daughter  of  Solomon  Harvey,  Spring  Prairie. 

,   1837- — Henry,  son  of  Robert  Godfrey,  Walworth. 

Mar.  — ,   1838 — A  daughter  of  Ansel  A.  Hemenway,  Spring  Prairie. 

June      1,   1838 — Henry,  son  of  Oliver  Van  Yalin,  Spring  Prairie. 

June  24,   1838 — *Silas  Wright,  son  of  Harry  Tupper,  Bloomfield,  died  1865. 

Sept.   18,   1838 — Mary,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Bell.  Lafayette. 

Oct.    — ,   1838 — *Woodbury,  son  of  Perry  G.  Harrington,  Sugar  Creek. 

Nov.   13,   1838 — Albert  Ogden,  son  of  Milo  E.  Bradley,  Geneva. 

Nov.  22,   1838 — Phoebe    Ann,    daughter   of    Samuel    Cole    Vaughn,    Spring 
Prairie. 

Dec.     19,    1838 — Oscar  D..  son  of  Roderick  Merrick,  Spring  Prairie. 
-  — ,   1838 — Helen  P..  daughter  of  John  Rosenkrans,  Sugar  Creek. 

Jan.      7,   1839 — Le  Grand,  son  of  Hollis  Latham.  Elkhorn. 

.Mar.  — ,    1839 — *  James   II..  son  of  Henry   Harrison  Sterling,  Lafayette. 

Apr.       i,   1839 — Harriet,  daughter  of  William  Bell,  Walworth,  died  1890. 

Apr.    23,   1839 — Frances,  daughter  of  Solomon  A.   Dwinnell,   Lafayette. 

May    25,   1839 — Wallace,  son  of  Daniel  Hartwell,  Lafayette;  died   1909. 

Oct.      8,   1839 — Jane   Eli/a.   daughter  of    Benjamin    F,    Trow.    Bloomfield; 
died  about  1871. 

Nov.    18,    1839     Julius  ('.,  son  of  William   Birge,  Whitewater. 

Jan.      8,  1840-    'I.hi.Im-n    Joseph,   son   of   Sylvester  G.    Smith.    Lafayette; 
died    [905. 

Mar.    [2,    [840— Leroy  Williston,  son  of  Austin  I..  Merrick.  Spring  Prairie; 
dead. 

Ma\      i<>.    [840      William    James,    son    of    William    Bell,    Walworth:    killed 
<  Ictober  8,  1862. 

July     [3,   [840     Emily,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Bell,  Lafayette. 

Wl;     10.    [840     "Henry  Christopher,  son  of  Christopher  Wiswell,  Lafayette. 
•    [840     Wendell  Ptilver,  son  of  W.  Fletcher  Lyon.  Hudson. 
.   (840     Florana  Lily,  daughter  of  John  Rosenkrans,  Sugar  Creek. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  2IQ 

— ,   1840 — Nancy,  daughter  of  Freeborn  Welch.  Sugar  Creek. 

Jan.    21,   1841 — Kinner   Newcomb,   son   of   Cyrenus    X.    Hollister,    Darien; 

died  191 1. 
Mar.  29,   1841 — Otis  E.,  son  of  Samuel  Cole  Vaughn,  Spring  Prairie. 
Sept.      1.    1841 — *\Yilliam  J.,  son  of  James   Holden.   Lagrange. 
July    23,   1842 — *Lucius,  son  of  William  Bell,  Walworth;  died  [862. 
Aug.     2,   1842 — William  H..  son  of  Samuel  Allen,  Bloomfield. 
Nov.     2,   1842 — *Charles  Edward,  son  of  Christopher   Wiswell,    Lafayette; 
died  1864. 

— ,   1842 — Smith  D.,  son  of  Daniel  Hartwell,  Lafayette. 

Mar.    10,   1843 — August,  son  of  John  Bernhardt  Wilmer,  East  Troy. 
Nov.      I,   1843 — Mary  Jane,  daughter  of  Daniel  J.  Bigelow,  Sugar  Creek. 
.   1843 — Emmet,  son  of  Thomas  McKaig,  Geneva. 

June   28,  1844 — Hiram  Sears,  son  of  William  Bell,  Walworth. 

July      8.  1844 — Helen  Louise,  daughter  of  William  O.  Garfield,  Elkhorn. 

July     14.  1844 — *William  Henry,  son  of  John  Mayhew  and  Lucinda  Allen. 

Nov.  23,  1844 — Emma  Pamela,  daughter  of  Edward  Elderkin,  Elkhorn. 

Nov.   24.  1844 — Lucretia  May,  daughter  of  Palmer  Gardner,  Spring  Prairie; 

died  1865. 

Sept.   14.  1845 — George,  son  of  George  Gale  and  Gertrude  Young,  Elkhorn. 

E  \KI.V    M  VRRIAGES. 

There  were  several  known  instances  in  which  one.  first  choosing  his 
claim,  made  the  coming  wife's  way  clear  and  then  went  eastward  to  marry 
her.  Thus  it  was  with  Palmer  Gardner,  James  Holden  and  Solomon  A. 
Dwinnell,  for  examples.  Tin-  very  earliest  marriage  ceremonies  were  likely 
to  have  been  performed  at  Milwaukee.  Racine,  or  at  some  convenient  clergy- 
man's or  magistrate's  just  across  the  county  line. 

Jan.    2^.    [837 — Charles  Augustus  Noyes  and  Xanc    Page-  Warren,  of  Gen- 
eva, at   Racine. 
Sept.     3.    [837 — Reuhen  Clark  and  Maria  Van  Valin,  Spring  Prairie. 

10.    [837    -Sylvanus  Spoor  and  Caroline  S.  Goodrich,  Troy. 
Nov.  — .   1837 — William  Bentley  and  Jane  Campbell,  Spring   Prairie. 
Apr.    — ,   1838    -Hollis  Latham  and  Lemira  (Bradle)  1   Lewis,  Elkhorn. 
Apr.     [8,    [839 — Elijah   Belding  and    Man    James,   Richmond. 
May    15.   1839 — Bradley  B.  Plato  and  Lucretia  C.  Hawes,  Richmond. 
May    25,  1839 — Caleb  Blodgett  and  Orinda  Jones,  Darien 
June     4,   1839 — Rev.  Jami      I      I  I  ndei     and    \nn   Elizabeth   Porter. 


220 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


June 

12,    I< 

Aug. 

7>  I 

Aug. 

25j     I 

Sept. 

5'  J 

Oct. 

3,   li 

Nov. 

JO,    I 

Dec. 

12,     I 

Dec. 

26,     1 

Feb. 

9-  i 

Alar. 

28,     1. 

Mar. 

.v.  ' 

May 

4.   " 

July 

9,   i 

July 

9,    i 

Inh 

25,    ., 

July 

25,    . 

Aug. 

13.   ' 

Nov. 

5>   ' 

Nov. 

10,   1 

Nov. 

Av     1 

Nov. 

30.  1 

1  )ec. 

[3.  ' 

Dec. 

22      I 

Jan. 

12,     I 

Feb. 

Feb. 

24,     1 

Alar. 

[8,    1 

\,.r. 

•  V      ' 

Apr. 

II,    1 

Apr. 

-'/"■  1 

May 

3.  1 

June 

6,    1 

July 

3.   '• 

July 

8,    1 

Aug. 

15,   . 

I  l,  i 

31,   1! 

Nov. 

1.   1 

Dec 

15.    1 

839 — Christopher  Columbus  Cheesebro  and  Maria  Johnson,  Darien. 

839 — George  W.   Robinson  and  Adeline  Caldwell. 

839 — Ransom  Sheldon  and  Maria  Theresa  Douglass,  Walworth. 

839 — Asad  Dean  Williams  and  Cynthia  B.  Powers,  Whitewater; 

839 — Jacob  Hamblin  and  Lucinda  Taylor,  Lafayette. 

839 — Alexander  Hervey  Bunnell  and  Mary  Dyer.  Spring  Prairie. 

839 — Austin  Leonard  Merrick  and  Esther  C.  Cook.  Spring  Prairie. 

Syj — John  Mather  and  Hannah  Stephenson,  Sugar  Creek. 

840 — John  Ruddiman  and  Mary  Bunker,  Troy. 

840 — Lucullus  S.  Pratt  and  Lydia  Comstock.  Darien. 

840 — Tompkins  Dunlap  and  Pearley  Adams.  Geneva. 

840 — Porter  Bowen  and  Hannah  Older,  Darien. 

840 — John  Martin  and  Eliza  Ann  Cheesebro,  Darien. 

840 — Martin  Pollard  and  Rachel  Powers.  East  Troy. 

840 — Dudley  W    Cook  and  Nancy  Dunlap,  Geneva. 

840 — Thomas  McKaig  and  Asenath  Dunlap.  Geneva. 

840 — Marcus  Moody  and  Lucy  P.  Barker. 

840-  Josiah  Burroughs  Gleason  and  Sarah  Bacon,  Spring  Prairie. 
840 — Peter  Noblet  and  Lydia  A.  Baker,  Spring  Prairie. 
840 — Samuel  N.  Loomer  and  Huldah  L.  Loomer,  Sugar  Creek. 
840    -John  Mayhew  and  Lucinda  Allen.  Spring  Prairie. 

840  Leland  Latch  and  Harriet  A.  Estes,  Troy. 
840 — Benjamin  Sweet  and  Elvira  Cornish,   Lagrange. 
841 — James  Fuller  and  Ruth  L.  Bunnell,  Lafayette. 
841— John  Powers  (of  Linn)  and  Laura  Stephen-.  Geneva. 
841 — Abel  Sperry  and   Eliza   Beckwith,   East  Troy. 

841  -Jonathan    Patterson  Chapin  and   Sarah  Jerrod,    Bloomfield. 
841— Orison  Gray  Ewing  and  Hannah  Watson,  Lagrange. 

841-  Samuel  Brittain  and  Eliza  Hoyt,  Spring  Prairie. 
■s  1 1  ■   Oliver  Salisbury  and  Emily  Cravath.  Whitewater. 
841 — Alfred  B.  Weed  and  Elizabeth  Rice,   Richmond. 
841— James  E.  Bell  and  Chine  Electa  Van  Nostrand. 

lleuiA    Barlow  and  Emeline  La  Bar.  Delavan. 
84]     Theodore    Benjamin    Edwards    and     Adeline    Moore    Mc- 

<  !racken,  Sugar  1  "reek 
841      [saac  Van  Wen  Severson  and  Elizabeth  Topping,  Walworth. 
■v  1 1      David  S.  Elting  and  Eliza  Manwell,  Lagrange. 
841      Horace  1  oleman  and  Juliette  Merrick.  Spring  Prairie. 
84]       William  Carter  and   Adeline  Scaver.   Darier 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,     WISCONSIN.  22  1 

Mar.  23,   1842 — Sterling  P.  Searles  and  Ellen  Dalton,  Geneva. 

Apr.  16.   1842 — Norman  C.  Dyer  and  .Mary  Lake.  Hudson. 

Apr.  24.   1842 — Stephen  B.  Davis  and  Esther  Newell,  Sugar  Creek. 

Oct.  13.   1842 — Benjamin  Goodwin  and  Clarinda  Wait,  Hudson. 

Oct.  16.   1842 — Jonathan  C.  Church  and  Dorcas  James,  Richmond. 

Nov.  24.    1842 — Charles  Taylor  and  Louisa  Augier,  East  Troy. 

■ — ,    1842 — Lemuel  Rood  Smith  and  Melissa  Campbell,  Hudson. 

Jan.  10,   1843 — James  O.  Eaton  and  Mary  Miranda  Dwinnell,  Lafayette. 
Feb.      8,   1843 — Edwin  DeWolf  and  Elizabeth  C.  McCracken,  Lagrange. 
Feb.      9,   1843- -William  Birge  and  Frances  Ostrander,  Whitewater. 

Feb.  12,   1843 — Thomas  Worden  Hill  and   Lydia  Ferris,   Hudson. 

Feb.  16,   1843 — Erasmus  Darwin  Richardson  and  Alma  O.  Spa  ford.  ( leneva. 
Sept.     7,    1843 — Albert  Ogden  and  Charlotte  Boyce,  Elkhorn. 

Oct.  4.   1843 — Stephen  Steele  Barlow  and  Anna  Maria  Parsons,  Delavan. 
Nov.      1,   1843 — Chester  Deming  Long  and  Laura  Ann  Lee,  Darien. 

Nov.  15.   1843 — Edwin  Wallis  Meacham  and  Emeline  M.  McCracken. 

Nov.  16.   1843 — George  Washington   Dwinnell  and  Abigail  Catherine  Wil- 
son. Lafayette. 

Dec.  21.   1843 — J.  Sperry  Northrop  and  Catherine  M.  Lyon,  Hudson. 

Dec.  25,    1843 — Edward  Elderkin  and  Mary  Martha  Beardslev.  Elkhorn. 

IN    MEMORIAM. 

The  death  list,  within  the  years  here  shown,  must  fall  very  far  short  of 
the  facts.  For  the  following  years  the  stones  and  records  of  cemeteries 
partly  supply  the  lack  of  official  registration.  Even  after  cemeteries  were 
laid  out  and  dedicated  many  of  the  dead  were  buried  in  small  private  enclos- 
ures, some  of  which  must  have  been  plowed  over  for  a  half  century, — what- 
ever reservation  may  have  been  mule  at  the  first  sale-  of  the  including 
farms.  Rain-  spon  heat  down  and  gra>-  and  weed-  hide  unvisited,  uncared-for 
graves,  and  white  man  has  not  more  reverence  for  the  resting  places  of 
strangers  of  his  own  race  than  for  those  of  the  conquered  or  cheated  heathen 
tribes. 

lul\'      3.    [837 — Mary  E.,  child  of  Syl   ester  G.  Wright.  Spring   P 
Sept.   14.   1837 — Mrs.  Eliza  Cornish,  ael    64,  Lagrange. 
Dec.    25,   [837 — William  C.  Merrick,  insane,  act.  33,  Spring  Praii 
June    it.   [838— Olive,  wife  of  Phipps  Hartwell,  Lafayette 
Sept.     6.    [838— A  child  of  Ansel  A.  Hemenway,  Spring  Prairie. 
Nov.   13.   [838-    Mary]       -       r),  wife  of  Lucius   \.l  East  Troy. 


JJJ 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


21, 
28, 

13. 

6, 


Nov.  22, 

July  i3i 
Sept.  19, 
Oct. 
Oct. 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Mar.    14, 

May    21, 

Mar.     5, 

Apr. 

Dec. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Apr. 


9- 

8, 

27, 
20, 
June    1 1. 


June 

Jul) 

Aug. 

Oct. 

July 

Sept 

Oct. 


16, 

20, 

-•5- 

26, 


Nov.  21, 

Dec.  20. 

Mar.  3, 

Apr.  15, 

Apr.  t8, 

June  21, 

July  23, 

Aug,  13, 

Aug  t6, 


838 — Simeon  Robinson,  Troy. 

838 — William  Casporus.  accidentally,  Lake  Geneva. 

830, — Daniel  Edwin  LaBar,  aet.  50.  Delavan. 

839 — Jotham  Newton  Baker,  aet.  21,  Whitewater. 

839 — Mary,  wife  of  John  Cummings,  aet.  58,  Walworth. 

839 — Amelia  J.,  wife  of  Henry  Frey,  aet.  45. 

839 — Benjamin  Whitcomb,  Whitewater. 

840 — Col.  Samuel  Faulkner  Phoenix,  aet.  44.  Delavan. 

840 — Apollos  Root,  Lafayette. 

841 — Christopher  Columbus  Cheesebro,  aet.  -'4,  Darien. 

841 — Abby  Frances  Goodsell,  aet.  33,  Lake  Geneva. 

842 — Rosetta,  wife  of  Azor  Kinney,  aet.  31,  Whitewater. 

842 — Dorcas  (Perry),  wife  of  Thomas  James,  Richmond. 

842 — Mary,  widow  of  Israel  Ferris,  aet.  85,  Whitewater. 

843 — George  Matthews,  aet.  38,  Troy. 

843 — Henry  Phoenix,  aet.  50,  Delavan. 

843 — Sprowell  Dean,  aet.  48,  Troy. 

843 — Martha  W.   (Larrabee),  wife  of  Charles  M.  Baker,  aet.  $~. 
Lake  Geneva. 

843 — Jonathan    Perry, — with   suspicion  of  poisoning, — Lafayette. 

843 — Eli  Mood},  aet.  63,  Bloomfield. 

843--  Harriet  (  Wheeler),  wife  of  Daniel  Salisbury,  Spring  Prairie. 

843 — Cabin    Pike,  aet.  41.   Whitewater. 

844 — Charlotte  (Boyce),  wife  of  Albert  Ogden,  Elkhorn. 

S44 — Dr.  James  Tripp,  aet.  49,  Whitewater. 

N44     lluldah    1  Cornell),   wife   of   Judge   John   Martio,   aet.   49 
Spring  Prairie. 

844 — Benoni  Bradway,  aet.  52,  Delavan. 

844 — Philinda,  wife  of  Joseph  Hall,  aet.  411.  Richmond. 

845    -Lydia  (  Dodge),  wife  ^i  Silas  Salisbury,  aet.  59,  Whitewater. 

845      Eliza  P.  (Gay),  wife  of  Samuel  II.  Stafford,  aet    34.  Bloom- 
field. 

845  —  Esther  (Cravath  1.  wife  of  Nelson  Salisbury,  aet.  32,  White- 
water. 

845    -Clementina  M.,  wife  <•{  Thomas   Harrison,  aet.  34,  Spring 
Prairie. 

845     James  R.   Bruce,  aet    31,  Darien. 

845 — Harriet   1  Boyce),  wife  of    \lvah  11.  Johnson,  aet.  27,  Darien. 

845      \ustin  II.  Wright,  aet.  31,  East  Troy, 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  223 

Sept.   10,  1845 — Aniasa  Allen,  aet.  69.  Lafayette. 

Sept.  18,  1845 — Phoebe  (Blakeslee).  wife  of  Elijah  Church,  aet.  51.  Wal- 
worth. 

Sept.  20,  1845 — Asaph  1'ratt,  aet.  55,  Whitewater. 

Oct.  3.  1845 — Sarah,  daughter  of  Webster  Bailey,  wife  of  Whitefield 
Bailey.  Walworth. 

Jan.      2,  1846 — Thomas  K.  LeBarron.  aet.  27,  Whitewater. 

Jan.     16.  1846 — Jesse  Hand,  aet.  63,  Hudson. 

Aug.    13.  1846 — Robert  Kennedy  Morris,  aet.  39,  Lagrange. 

Sept.   18.  1846 — Harriet  C.  wife  of  Charles  A.  Soper.  aet.  26,  Darien. 

Oct.     14.  184c) — Capt.  Israel  Williams,  aet.  ^y.  Walworth. 

Oct.     17.  1846 — Cynthia,  wife  of  Stephen  Knapp,  aet.  59,  East  Troy. 

Oct.    20.  1846 — Chanty  L..  wife  of  Loren  Stacy,  aet.  42,  Hudson. 

Oct.    24.  1846 — Harriet  (Newell),  wife  of  Albert  H.  Smith,  aet.  31,  Delavan. 

LOSSES   BY   FIRE. 

An   incomplete   list  of  more  or  less  destructive   fires,   though   of  little 
value  as  history,  may  help  to  fix  dates  of  other  events  associated  with  them 
in  men's  memories.     It  is  so  far  from  full  that  a  list  nearly  as  long  may  be 
found  in  the  Delavan  fire  department's  record  of  the  last  twenty  years. 
Apr.     14.    1844 — William  Birge's  house.  Whitewater.     A  child  of  three  years 

burned. 
May    9.    1844 — "A  great  lire  at  Sharon." 
Dec.    — ,   1845 — Andrew    Ferguson's  store.  Geneva. 
Dee     10.   1852 — Samuel  Tibbets's  home,  Sugar  (.'reek. 

— .  1858 — Benjamin  !•".  Pope's  house,  Elkhorn. 

May     15,    1859 — Patrick  O'Brien's  house.  Darien. 

Sept.  22,   1859 — Methodist  church.  Elkhorn. 

Jan.     12.    i860 — Alexander  II.  Bunnell's  house,   Lafayette. 

Jan.    23,   i860 — Two  newspaper  offices  and  other  buildings,  Delavan. 

Apr.    29,   i860 — John  A.  Farnum's  house.  North  Geneva. 

Feb.    26.   1862 — Henry  Lord's  house,  town  of  Delavan. 

Nov.  25.   1862 — Lemuel  Webster's  house,  Sugar  ('reek. 

Nov.    10.    1866 — Chaffee's  planing  mill  and  Thiele's  cabinet  shop,  Whitewater. 

Feb.    26,   1867 — Centralia  store  and  other  buildings,  Elkhorn. 

May    31,    [867 — Esterlv  reaper  works,  Whitewafc 

Nov.    10.   1867 — Several  store-  in  Main  street,  Whitewater. 

Nov.   30.    [867     I  ole  &  Hunter'--  pottery.  White 


224 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Apr. 

25.    1 

Jan. 

29,    1 

Feb. 

26,    1 

Mar. 

28,    1 

July 

2,    I, 

Aug. 

13-    I 

Aug. 

21,     I. 

Dec. 

31-   1 

Apr. 

5-     J 

\!,i\ 

2,    I 

July 

7.    I( 

Feb. 

19,  1 

Sept. 

16,  1 

Mar. 

_ 

Jan. 

7>   l 

Jan. 

10,   1 

July 

5,    r, 

Apr. 

2     1 

Aug. 

_'<>,    1 

Nov. 

18,    1 

Nov. 

8,   1 

Apr. 

24,   1 

Aug. 

5)   ' 

May 

[6,    1 

Oct. 

31,   ii 

Dec. 

6,    1 

(  let. 

31,   if 

Feb. 

:i  >.    1 

\ug. 

28,   cj 

Sept. 

17.   > 

Oct. 

l.   [* 

Oct. 

7.   if 

July 

Aug. 

x.   1, 

Jan. 

1.   1 

867 — John  Welch's  store,  Whitewater. 

872 — Ouigley's  vinegar  factory.  Lake  Geneva. 

873 — County  House,  North  Geneva. 

874 — Ethan  B.  Farnum's  store.  Springfield. 

875 — Office  of  Whitewater  Register  and  other  buildings. 

875 — Office  of  Walworth  County  Liberal,  Elkhorn. 

875 — Goff's  grain  house,  Delavan  village. 

875 — Nathan  W.  Mower's  barn,  lightning-struck  and  burned. 

875 — Hollis  Latham's  house,  one  of  the  oldest  at  Elkhorn. 

876 — Doane's  and  other  stores,  Delavan. 

876 — Isaac  Way's  house,  with  two  children.  North  Geneva. 

876 — Darien  Water-cure  building. 

879 — Episcopal  rectory,  Elkhorn,  badly  damaged. 

879 — State  School  for  the  Deaf,  Delavan. 

880 — Steamer  "Arrow,"  in  Geneva  lake. 

881 — Benjamin    T.    Fowler's    house    and    cheese    factory.    Heart 

Prairie. 
881 — John  ( i.  Flack's  house  and  creamery.  North  Geneva. 
881 — Artemas  Baird's  house,  Elkhorn. 
884 — Cooler  E.  Wing's  house,  Elkhorn 
885 — William    Harwood's    barn.    Little    Prairie,    lightning-struck 

and  burned. 
880 — Public  school  building,  Elkhorn. 
888 — Railway  passenger  house.  Elkhorn. 
890 — Dynamite  explosion  and  tire  at  Doane's  store,  Delavan,  liim- 

sel  1  and  another  killed. 
890 — George  W.  Ferris's  house,  Elkhorn. 
891      Mrs.  Margaret  Casey's  house,  Elkhorn. 

891  The  Daniel   Botsford  house,  Elkhorn. 
891 — Steamer  "<  tt\  of  Lake  Geneva,"  in  Geneva  lake. 

892  The  John  Driscoll  house,  Elkhorn. 

893  William  K    Chambers's  house,  Lauderdale  Lake. 
893 — Strow  hotel  and  twelve  more  stores  and  shops,   Delavan. 
893     Field  lire,  wesl  of  Elkhorn,  threatened  the  whole  villa 
893     Kachel's  dairy  supply  building,  Elkhorn, 
893     Isaac  Vloorhouse's  dwelling,  North  Geneva. 
No  1     Whiting  House.  Lake  Geneva. 
No  1      I  [1  tllenbeck  cottage,  I  -auderdale. 
896     Barn    and  cattle  on  Franklin  II.  Eames's  farm.  Lafayette. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  225 

Mar.  12,  1896 — Implement  Company's  store  and  Lore's  laundry.  Elkhorn. 
Mrs.  Lore  fatally  burned. 

Apr.      1,   1896 — Clifford  A.  Mower's  store  and  Grove  creamery.  Bowers. 

May    10,    1896 — Bumstead's  butter  factory,  Elkhorn. 

Mar.     9,   1898 — Frank  Lumb's  store. 

Apr.    25,   1898 — Mrs.  Casey's  house,  Elkhorn. 

Sept.   13,   1899 — James  F.  Jude's  hotel,  barn,  etc.,  East  Troy. 

Sept.  22,   1899 — William  DeGroff's  house,  Williams  Bay. 

Jan.       5.    1900 — Patrick  Campbell's  bouse.  Walworth. 

Jan.     31.   1900 — John  H.  Lauderdale's  house,  Elkhorn. 

May    10,   1900 — Mettowee  Hotel,  by  Delavan  lake. 

Apr.    30,    1901 — Daniel  Carey's  barn,  etc.,  Darien. 

Nov.      2,    1901 — KLenilworth  Inn.  Delavan  lake. 

Feb.      6,   1902 — House  on  the  William  Lincoln  farm,  Spring  Prairie. 

Apr.     10,   1902 — Ira  Enders's  bouse  and  contents,  Delavan. 

May      i,   1902 — W.  Allen  Barnes'  mill,  or  shop,  Elkhorn  (once  a  church). 

Oct.  30.  1902 — William.  Albert  and  Julia  Wickinson  burned  with  their 
house,  in  Lagrange. 

Dec.  22,  1902 — Workshop  and  instruments  at  Observatory,  near  Williams 
Bay. 

July  28,  1903 — Ernest  Hand's  barn  and  cattle.  Sugar  Creek,  lightning- 
struck  and  burned. 

July    31;    1903 — James  Cutler's  barn,  Darien, — largest  in  the  county. 

Dec.    25,   1903 — Public  school  house  at  Lake  Geneva. 

Feb.     14.    1904 — John  W.  Hare's  store,  Walworth  village. 

Oct.    24,   1904 — Arthur  Deist's  house.  East  Troy. 

Nov.   16,   1907 — Baptist  church,  Elkhorn. 

Jan.     19,   1908 — Robert  Opirz  carriage  shop,  East  Troy. 

Apr.      4,   1908 — James  Baldwin's  house,  Darien 

July    12.   1908 — L.  P.  Sutter's  barn,  Delavan,  one  of  largest  in  county. 

Oct.    15,  1908 — House  on  Eames  farm,  Lafayette. 

July      2,   1909 — Wilbur  Lumber  Company's  mill,  Honey  Creek. 

lulv    28,  1909 — Town  Hall,  two  nd  shop,  Darien. 

Apr.      3.   1910 — House  on  Joseph  Heimbach  farm,  neai    Honey  (reek. 

Oct.    12.  191 1 — Millard  E.  Mills's  farmhouse,  Elkhorn. 


(15) 


CHAPTER  XX. 


TOWN  OF  BLOOM  FIELD. 


It  is  not  now  known  why  town  i  north,  of  range  18  east,  was  so  named. 
There  was  Bloomfield,  Essex  county,  northern  Xew  Jersey,  and  there  was  its 
namesake  in  Ontario  county.  New  York,  which  is  now  two  towns.  East  Bloom- 
field  and  West  Bloomfield.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  considerable  number 
of  settlers  came  from  any  of  these  places.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  early 
naming  of  Bloom  prairie  led  to  this  appropriate  name  for  the  whole  town.  It 
has  Linn  westward,  Lyons  northward,  Randall  and  Wheatland,  both  in  Keno- 
sha county,  eastward,  and  the  Illinois  towns  of  Richmond  and  Hebron,  in 
McHenry  county,  southward.  At  the  primitive  division  of  the  county  into  five 
towns  the  southeastern  quarter  constituted  the  town  of  Geneva.  By  further 
legislation,  January  23,  1844,  Bloomfield,  Hudson  and  Linn  were  severally 
set  off  from  the  parent  town  for  home  rule.  There  is  in  Waushara  county, 
too,  a  township  named  Bloomfield,  whence  arises  part  of  the  difficulty  in 
identifying  the  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war  for  whom  credit  should  be  given  to 
this  part  of  Walworth  county. 

The  surface  of  the  town  is  as  fair  to  look  upon  as  that  of  anf  part  of 
the  county  or  of  the  neighboring  counties.  Though  there  is  no  great  extent 
of  level  prairie,  its  slight  unevenness  nowhere  breaks  abruptly  into  hill  coun- 
try, nor  are  there  great  areas  of  low-lying  swam]).  Its  wooded  sections  are 
fairly  distributed.  The  timber  is  mostly  oak  of  the  usual  varieties,  on  the 
level  and  high  ground,  while  a  tew  patches  of  swamp  lands  are  cov- 
ered with  tamaracks.  These  evergreen-bearing  swamps  are  often 
or  generally  peat-bottomed,  with  blue  clay  underlying.  Modern  scien- 
tific farming  will  at  some  time  lead  away  the  water  and  convert  the  peat  into 
fertile  soil.  The  Nippersink,  by  its  three  valleys  and  thosr  ,,f  its  little  tribu- 
taries, distributes  the  relatively  small  marsh  surfaces  fairly  about  the  town. 
Along  the  Kenoshan  border  the  Towers  lake  chain  in  sections  13.  _>_(.,  a  small 
part  of  Ryan's  lake  in  section  3,  Pell's  lake,  in  sections  [5,  22,  and  a  few 
glacial  pol  holes,  subtract  aboul  928  acres  from  the  total  area  of  the  town 
That  is.  official  estimate  shows  -'-\i  [2  acres  of  land  surface:  but,  as  the  well- 
informed  leader  is  aware,  owing  to  surveyor's  slight  inaccuracies,  as  well 
as  tn  the  convergence  northward   of  all    meridian   lines,   township  areas   are 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  22J 

not  invariably  23,040  acres  of  land  and  water.  Bloom  prairie  reaches  out  into 
Hebron  and  Linn,  about  two-thirds  way  across  the  town  northward  and  some- 
thing like  one-third  way  eastward  from  the  line  of  Linn;  and  its  primitive 
unplowed  beauty  was  in  no  way  deceitful. 

The  whole  town,  for  the  first  forty  years  of  its  settlement,  yielded  the 
usual  fair  to  full  returns  in  grain  and  root:  but.  like  its  neighboring  towns,  it 
has  found  its  truer  value  in  its  adaptation  to  corn  raising  and.dairv  produc- 
tion. Returns  for  [910  made  to  the  county  clerk  show  these  acreages  of 
improved  land:  Barley,  301:  cabbage.  2<)\  corn,  [,339;  growing  timber. 
1,307:  hayfield.  [,86]  :  oats.  2.331;  potatoes.  103:  rye.  74;  wheat.  30.  Mr. 
Sikes  shows  census  of  live  stock  and  true  values:  3,093  cattle.  $02,000;  845 
hogs,  $9,300;  804  horses,  $66,200;  two  mules,  $200;  1,056  sheep,  $3,900. 
Land  values,  for  town.  Si. 73 1.000,  at  an  average  of  $jH.2j  per  acre;  for 
village,  458  acres  at  $429.47  per  acre,  whole  value  $196,700.  The  valuation 
of  town  and  village  is  5.01   per  cent,  of  that  of  the  entire  county. 

The  population  of  Bloomfield,  including  Genoa  Junction,  at  seven  fed- 
eral enumerations,  was:  1850,  Xji);  1800.  1. 140;  1870,  [,091;  1880.  1,007; 
1890,  1. 197:  1900,  1. 314;  mho.  1,485.  In  i<k>3  the  state  census  gave  the 
village  710  inhabitants  and  856  to  the  rest  of  the  town.  The  census  of  [910 
shows  a  loss  of  one  for  the  village. 

The  permanent  settlement  of  the  town  began  late  in  1830  with  the  com- 
ing of  Henry  Kimball  and  his  son.  Oramel.  who  made  their  claim  in  section  6. 
The  elder  pioneer  brought  his  wife.  Keziah.  and  such  family  as  they  had. 
from  Otsego  county,  as  soon  as  he  had  made  for  them  a  home  in  the  solitude 
He  was  born  in  July.  1783,  and  died  January  31.  1S51.  His  wife  was  bom 
in  1783  and  died  August  10.  1852.  Oramel  was  horn  May  20.  1815,  and 
died  in  the  town  of  Delavan,  June  27 ■.  1882.  His  wife,  Lucinda,  who  outlived 
him.  was  born  in  1830. 

The  earliest  coming  family  was  that  of  Harry  and  Elizabeth  Tupper, 
late  in  1837.  Their  son.  Silas  Wright  Tupper,  eldest  of  four  children  known, 
was  born  in  the  town.  June  24.  1838:  enlisted  in  [86]  as  a  private  of  Com 
pany  K.  Eighth  Infantry:  re-enlisted  in  1803;  was  transferred  December  28. 
[864,  to  Veteran  Reserve  Corps;  died  February  12.  [865,  in  the  military 
hospital  at  Indianapolis,  '["he  other  children  were  Sarah  A.,  born  in  1844; 
Norman  H.,  born  in  [846:  Ellen  A.,  bom  in  [848.  Harry  Tupper  died  in 
California.  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Eli  and  Dorothj  Moody,  was  horn  March 
2.  1813;  died  May  1.  [881.  John  and  Levi  Moody  were  her  brothers,  both 
unmarried,  and  both  came  among  the  settlers  of  [838. 


228  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN'. 

Among  other  best  remembered  settlers  from  1837  to  1840,  inclusive, 
were  Hiram  and  Clarissa  Barker,  Thomas  Buckland.  John  and  Clarissa 
Chapin,  Jonathan  P.  and  \Y.  Densmore  Chapin,  Charles  Dorathy,  Timothy  H. 
Fellows,  Carl  Freeman,  Samuel  T.  Hatch  and  wife,  Caroline;  Jeremiah  and 
Orpha  Jerrod,  Andrew  and  John  Michael  Kull.  William  K.  May,  Welcome  J. 
Miller,  Marcus  Moody,  Doric  C.  Porter,  Dan  and  Eliza  Rowe,  Thomas  Peck 
Rutenber  (1809-1855)  and  Polly  Brazee.  his  wife;  Sebastian  and  Apollonia 
Schurman,  Benjamin  Franklin  Trow  (1802-1870)  and  wife,  Aurelia  H. 
(1814-1890)  ;  Ebenezer  and  Mary  Tupper,  Everton  Walker,  Jonathan  Ward. 
Isaac  White,  Jr. 

Within  the  next  eight  years  came  Samuel  and  William  Allen,  Thomas 
Beeden  and  wife,  Elizabeth  (  1810-1849),  Schuyler  Besteder  (  1800- 1883) 
and  wife  Eliza  Jane  (1806-1889),  Dewitt  C.  Blakeman,  Morris  Wait  Blod- 
gett,  John  Brown,  J.  Sidney  Buell,  Edward  Bundy,  Conrad  Burget,  John 
Burns,  William  Worth  Byington,  David  Ward  Carey,  Enoch  B.  and  James 
B.  Carter,  Levinus  Carver,  George  H.  Christian,  Simon  Williams  Clark, 
Robert  Cobb,  Dudley  Wesley  Cook.  Peter  L.  Craver,  Edward  Crowell.  Will- 
iam Doughten,  Delamore  Duncan.  Alfred  W.  Dyer,  George  Woodward  Ed- 
wards, James  Ervin,  Andrew  Everson,  William  Faulkner,  George  Field, 
Langdon  Filkins,  Jason  Fobes,  John  Chesley  Ford,  Abiel,  Joseph  and  Russell 
Fuller,  James  Grier,  Dike  W.  Hall,  Jonah  Hanchett,  Jr.,  Daniel  P.  Handy, 
Ephraim  and  Nathan  Harrison,  Dewitt  C.  Hay.  Alanson  K.  Hill,  Charles 
High,  James  C.  Latour.  Valorous  1).  Manning,  Eli  Manor,  Stillman  Moores, 
John  II.  Nichols,  Edwin  Ruthven  and  Enos  Hanchett  Olden,  Ira  A.  Pell, 
Thomas  Peters,  John  Yerwell  Petty,  Oakley  A.  Phillips,  Preston  Brewer 
Plumb,  Joshua  Post,  Archibald,  David  and  James  Primmer,  Solon  Read  and 
Alinda  M..  his  wife.  Lyman  Redington,  Cyrus  and  Erastus  R.  Rugg,  Hiram 
J.  Sawyer.  Joseph  W.  Searles,  John  Sibley,  George  Smith.  Clark  Williams 
Spafard,  Amos  W.  and  Samuel  II  Stafford.  Aimer  Strickland 
(1814  1900),  Philo  C.  Taylor.  Hamilton  Temple,  Dr.  Oliver  S.  Tif- 
fany. Jeremiah  and  William  <  i.  Tmesdell,  Samuel  Ward.  Michael  VVelden, 
William  II.  Whiting.  Nathaniel  B.  Whittier,  William  R.  Wilkins,  Thomas 
Wilson.  Abner  Wing.  John  Wood,  Uanson  and  Silas  P.  Wright.  \  few  of 
these  may  have  boughl  governmenl  land  without  intending  to  settle.  One 
such  instance  was  that  of  \ndrew  Galbraith  Miller,  for  many  years  judge 
of  the  federal  court  at  Milwaukee,  who  bought  in  section  [3.  A  Larger  num- 
ber went  a  few  years  later  to  other  towns,  counties,  or  -tale-;  ami  a  few  of 
the  old  settlers  died  within  the  next  few  years. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  229 

Neither  from  public  and  private  records,  nor  from  the  memory  of  aging 
men  and  women  of  the  next  following  generation,  are  now  to  be  gathered, 
with  fair  approach  to  fullness  or  exactness,  many  facts  as  to  the  earlier  lives 
and  later  careers  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  county;  though  something 
might  yet  be  done  to  recover  and  preserve  these  "little  lines  of  yesterday," 
were  time  and  much  effort  to  be  given  to  such  labor  of  love.  The  following 
notes  include  a  few  names  of  later  comers : 

Heman  H.  Allen  (1813-1888)  married  Caroline  1!.  (1816-1892), 
daughter  of  Calvin  P.  (1798-1861)  and  Pamela  Gay. 

Hiram  Barker  (1801-1884)  married  Clarissa  A.  Bronson  (1808-1879). 

Elizabeth  (1810-1849),  wife  of  Thomas  Beeden,  was  buried  at  Lake 
Geneva.     Thomas  and  wife  Jane  were  living  in  i8(>o. 

Adeline,  daughter  of  Thomas  Buckland,  was  married  in  February,  1841, 
by  Judge  Baker,  to  William  Williams,  of  McHenry  county.  This  was  the 
first  marriage  in  Bloomfield. 

William  Worth  Byington  (1822-1909),  a  native  of  Vermont,  married, 
first,  Adeline,  daughter  of  Abner  Wing  and  Mehetabel  Ingham;  second,  Mrs. 
Sarah  B.  (  Newton)  Pier.  He  was  for  several  years  in  business  at  Lake 
Geneva,  and  came  in  1876  to  Elkhorn,  where  he  died. 

Enoch  Boutell  Carter  (  1819-1902),  son  of  Leonard  and  Persis,  was  born 
at  Leominster,  Massachusetts.  Charlotte  |  1824-1910)  was  daughter  of  Will- 
iam Vincent  and  Lydia  Wilcox.     Enoch  married  in  1845. 

Jonathan  Patterson  Chapin,  son  of  John  and  Clarissa,  married,  March 
18,  1 841,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  and  Orpha  Jerrod. 

Samuel  Rogers  Darrow  1  1809  [89]  )  was  a  native  of  Herkimer  county. 
New  York. 

Charles  Dorathy  (1811-1893),  son  of  Joseph,  came  in  1840  to  Bloom- 
field.  His  first  wife  was  Mary,  daughter  of  Ebenezer  and  Mary  Tupper.  His 
second  wife  was  Eliza  Kimball. 

Delamore  Duncan,  son  of  William  and  wife.  Ruth  Gilmore,  was  a  broth- 
er-in-law of  Timothy  II.  bellows. 

George  Field  married  Emma,  daughter  of  Abiel  Fellows  and  Dorcas 
Hopkins. 

Nathan  Harrison  was  born  in  1801  and  died  in  [883.  Anna,  his  wife, 
was  born  in  1804  and  died  in  1887. 

Samuel  Tucker  Hatch  1  [802-1882),  son  of  I  larman  1  whose  wife  was 
named  Tucker),  came  in  [840  to  section  12.  His  first  wife  was  named  Caro- 
line; his  second  was  Mrs.  Lucy  Small.  It  is  nol  known  that  he  was  of  the 
same  family  as  others  of  his  name,  in  DeLv.ui.  Geneva,  Linn,  or  elsewhere. 


22,0 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Charles  High  (1809-1887)  was  probably  son  of  Charles  and  Christine, 
of  Washington  county,  New  York.  He  came  in  1841  to  section  30,  and 
married  Nancy  B.  Rolfe,  of  Milwaukee.  His  farm  was  one  of  the  largest 
and  best  in  the  town. 

Alanson  King  Hill  (1813-1894)  was  born  at  Canton,  New  York,  and 
died  at  Lake  Geneva.     His  wife  was  Nancy  Agnes  Wellwood. 

There  was  in  Bloomfield,  long  ago,  and  perhaps  is  yet,  a  second  Kimball 
family,  of  German  origin.  From  tombstones  it  is  inferred  that  the  name 
was  Kimpel,  and  changed  by  local  pronunciation  to  the  more  familiar  form. 
Carl  R,  of  this  family  (  1814-1891  ).  had  wife.  Anna  E.  (  1826-1885). 

James  C.  Latour  (1795- 1883)  was  born  in  New  York  (city).  He  came 
with  wife.  Christina  (1798-1856),  to  sections  3,   10. 

John  Loveland  (1810-1886)  was  born  at  Middletown,  Connecticut.  He 
came  in   1841    with  wife,  Elizabeth  Latour  (  1X14-1906). 

Eli   Manor    (  i8_'_'-i885)    was  son  of  Joseph   and   Louisa   Lucia   Manor 
(  Tliis  name  is  spoken  "Man-ore."  ).      lie  built  the  only  hotel  now  at  the  Junc- 
tion. 

Eli  Moody  (1780-1843)  and  wife  Dorothy  (1784-1847).  Of  their 
known  children.  Elizabeth  was  Mrs.  Harry  Tupper;  Levi  (1808-1890)  died 
unmarried;  John  died  October  27,  1802,  in  naval  hospital  at  Mound  City. 
Illinois,  seemingly  in  gunboat  service.  Alfred  (  [815-1881)  may  have  been 
of  Eli's  family. 

Stillman  Moores  bought  land  111  sections  14,  -'3.  His  wife,  Mary  1  1S07- 
1880),  was  daughter  of  William  and  Susannah  Coleman. 

Enos  Hanchett  Olden  (born  iN_>_>)  came  about  [842  to  section  15,  and 
soon  afterward  married  Julia  A.  Gregg  (horn  [826).  Their  farm,  now 
Elisha  T.  Hibhard's.  has  been  found  ralhrr  remarkably  adapted  to  fruit- 
raising. 

Ira  A.  Pell  (  [800-187]  ).  namesake  of  the  lakelet  in  section  15.  married 
Mary  I..  (  [816-1883),  daughter  of  Ephraim  and  Alida  Farmer. 

Otis  I'..  Phillips  (  [798-185  I  and  wife  Olive  (  (800-1865)  were  buried 
at  Lake  Geneva,  lie  may  have  been  son  or  brother  of  Oakley  A.  Phillips, 
who  may  have  been  a  non-resident  buyer  in  section  31. 

lames  Primmer  (horn  [816)  and  wife  Hannah  (burn  iS_>i).  daughter 
uf  Philip  and  Rebecca  Shaver,  were  natives  of  Rensselaer  county.  They  came 
tn  section  7. 

fohn  Siblej  was  one  of  the  founders  "i  the  Episcopal  society.  Mis 
son.  Charles  W.  (county  clerk  [853-7),  married  Lucy,  daughter  uf  Abiel 
Fell  'w  s  and  I  >i  ireas  I  \<  ipkins, 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  _>3  I 

Jane  Eliza  Trow,  daughter  of  Benjamin  F.  and  Aurelia  II.,  first  girl 
born  in  the  town — October  8,    1839— lived  to  marrv  and  died  about    1X71. 

Everton  Walker  (born  1810)  and  wife  Susan  (born  1814)  came  to 
section  4  in   1839.     They  left  the  state  later  than   [860. 

Jonathan  Ward  (1814-1872)  married  Electa  King  (1820-1894)  and 
came  to  section  5  in  1837.  In  [860  they  had  five  children.  They  were  buried 
at  Lake  Geneva.     Airs.  Ward  seems  to  have  become  Mrs.  Adams. 

Silas  P.  Wright  (1815-1896)  was  horn  near  Sackett's  Harbor;  lived 
on  section  20,  Bloomfield :  died  at  Lake  Geneva.  Mary,  his  wife,  was  born 
in  1816. 

Bloomfield  centre — not  Centre — was  but  a  convenient  way  of  denoting 
the  site  of  an  early  school  house,  a  half-mile  south  of  the  town-centre,  on  the 
diagonal  road  from  Geneva  to  Richmond  (or,  a  little  later,  to  Genoa).  This 
house  for  long  served  as  a  meeting  place  of  religious  gatherings  and  early- 
societies,  and  for  other  township  purposes.  The  first  school  was  taught  in 
1840  by  Mrs.  Electa  (King)  Ward,  in  section  6,  at  a  house  built  for  her 
use  as  a  private  school.  There  is  now  a  district  school  house  on  her  husband's 
farm,  at  the  center  of  section  5.  There  are  at  present  in  the  town  (the  village 
not  included)  six  school  districts,  of  which  two  are  joint  districts — No.  6  with 
Lyons;  Xo.  8  with  Randall,  in  Kenosha  county. 

The  whole  number  of  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war  whose  service  was  credited 
to  Bloomfield  was  one  hundred  thirty-one.  If  not  all  of  these  were  really 
residents  of  the  town  the  non-residents  were  fairly  offset  by  the  men  of 
Bloomfield  who  were  enrolled  for  other  towns.  Her  volunteers  turned  <>ut 
promptly  in  the  first  two  years,  and  her  citizens  voted  liberal  bounties  in  order 
to  fill  later  calls  for  troops.  The  town  was  well  represented  in  the  Fourth 
Infantry-Cavalry  and  the  Eighth  and  Twenty-second  Infantry,  and  by  smaller 
numbers  in  many  other  commands.  Company  K.  Eighth  Infantry,  the  Live 
Eagle  regiment,  was  credited  with  thirt)  six  batik'.-  and  skirmishes,  in  six 
states.  Its  orderly  sergeant.  Theodore  \.  Fellows,  returned  as  its  third  cap- 
tain, after  exactly  four  years  of  constantly  active  service. 

The  town  and  village  records  are  quite  full  and  generall)  legible.  The 
clerks  have  usually  been  chosen  for  their  fitness,  and  have  often  been  re- 
elected. The  bonk-  tor  1X50  arc  a-  easily  read  as  printed  script.  The  clerk 
for  that  year  was  Mr.  Youlen,  a  young  farmer  who  had  at  that  time  a  work 
ing  partnership  with  David  \\  .  Carey,  and  whom  nobody  but  the  latter's  son, 
Julian  M.  Carey,  seems  now  to  remember.  The  official  list  for  the  town  of 
Bloomfield  is  as  follow  -  : 


232 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


CHAIRMEN  OF   BOARD  OF  SUPERVISORS. 


William   K.   May 1844 

Cyrus  Rugg 1845,  '47-  '49 

'56-58,  "65 

Timothy   Hopkins  Fellows 

1846.  '68,  '73 

Samuel  Allen 1848 

David  Ward  Carey 1850 

Heman  C.   Stewart 1851 

Schuyler  Ward  Benson 

1852.  '74.  '75 

William    Densmore    Chapin 

1853-55,  '60,  '61,  '63.  '64,   '81 

Amos   Wagman   Stafford 

1859,  '66,  '67,  '69.  '72 


Adolph  Freeman 1862 

Alfred  H.   Abell 1876-79 

Andrew   Kull.  Jr 1880,   '82-84 

George   Rue   Allen 1885-97 

Russell  Holmes 1898- 1900 

Thomas   H.    Grier 1901.  '02 

Charles   W.   Forbes 1903 

John  H.  Hoffman I904-'o5 

Elijah  T.  Hibbard 1906-08 

Clifton   S.   Arnold 1909 

Frederick  C.  Paskie,  res 1910,  '11 

Elijah  T.   Hibbard.  acting 191 1 

Elijah  T.  Hibbard,  elected 1912 


ASSOCIATE    SUPERVISORS. 


Alfred  II.  Abell 1863,  '74.  '7-^ 

James  Grier  Allen 1904 

William  II.  Allen 1873.  '77-'8o 

Thomas   Beeden 1847.    40 

Bryanl   S.    Benson r873 

Schuyler    Ward    Benson 1840.  '51 

Sidne)    Buell  1866,  '8] 

William  Ira  Buell 1 867-72, '82-84 

Enoch   Boutell   Carter 

[846-47,   '51,    '52,    '60,    '70.    '71 

John  Chapin 1844 

Robert   Cobb  1861,   '62,   '65 

Timothy   Hopkins  Fellows 

[856,  '57,  '65 
Charles  \V.  Forbes     [887,   1901,  '02 

Daniel  Forbes 1881 

William  Forbes 1850.  '74.  '7^ 

Andrew    \V.    Foster...  [888  93 

Adolph    Freeman  1861.  '63 

Joseph   Fuller     1854,  '55 


Frederick   Gleason 1885,   '86,  '98 

Andrew   W.   Hafs IQOS-    °6 

Orville  X.  Harrison 1880.  '82-'84 

Elijah  T.   Hibbard__i890,  '99,   1900 

Frederick   Henning 1891-93 

John  Huffman 1804.  '98-1903 

Michael   Hoffman 1885-88 

Richard    R.    Hoffman 1910-12 

Russell  Holmes 1S05-07 

Clifton  S.  Arnold [866-r68 

Seth  L.   Banks        1848 

Dewitl   C    Blakeman 1853-4 

William    Irish   [848 

Elijah  Jewett  1852 

William  G.    Katzenberger 1909-12 

Dr.  Selvey   Kidder [876-79 

Oramel   Kimball [864 

William  Kimball 1804-07 

\11drew    Kull,    |r. I9°5 

Edwin  0.  Kull      1889 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


'■33 


Jacob   Maas   1904 

James  C.  Merritt i860 

Welcome  Joseph  Miller 1868-69 

Daniel  T.   Moores ^903 

Enos  Hanchett  Olden 1867 

Lawrence    Palmitier    1853 

Frederick  C.  Paskie 1907-09 

Morris  Read 1866 

Solon  Reed 1&59-  '72 


Cyrus  Rugg 1844 

Hiram   J.    Sawyer 1850 

Amos   Wagman   Stafford 

1845-46,  '58,  '64 

Heman  J.  Stewart 1850 

Everton  Walker 1856 

Edwin  Woodman 1857-58 

Ira  Williams 1855,  '62 

Samuel  J.   Wilson . 1876 


TOWN    CLERKS. 


Lyman  Redington  (2  mos.) 1844 

William  Densmore  Chapin 1844 

Jason  Fobes ^45 

George  Field 1846-47 

Robert  Moores 1848 

Samuel   Allen 1849 

William  Youlen 1850 

James  S.   Stilson 1851-  '66 

Charles  W.  Sibley 1852,  '63 

William   Worth  Byington 1853-57 

Wells  W.  Belden 1858 

George  C.  Perry 1859-61 

Ichabod  A.   Hart 1862 


*Charles    Augustus    Noyes,    Jr., 

1864-65 

*  Frederick  Fernald 1867-69, 

1872-75,  1878-9 

Adam  C.  Fowler 1870 

William  T.  Beeden 1871 

Julian  Marcellus  Carey 1876-77 

Andrew   W.    Foster 1880-84 

Charles  Derby  Blanke 1885-1901 

Clifton  S.  Arnold 1902-04 

John  Deignan 1905-10 

Andrew    W.    Hafs 1910-12 


Mr.  Deignan  having  resigned  in  1910,  Mr.  Hafs  was  appointed  for  that 


\ear. 


TOWN  TREASURER. 


John  Wood 1844-45 

William  Densmore  Chapin__  1N41 1   [g 

Dewitt  C.  Blakeman 1850 

William   Worth  Byington 1851-52 

Eddy  Cole 1853-54 

John  Chapin 1855 

John    Read    1856 

Joseph  fuller 1857 

Homer    field    [858 


Samuel    R.    Harrow 1859 

Solon   Reed 1860-62,   '64 

Ira    Williams    1863 

Oramel  Kimball [865 

Charles    Augustus  Noyes    -      [866-68 

Vbner  Fuller [869-70 

David  B.    Maine 1871-1885 

William   II.  Allen 1886-189] 

Elijah  T.    Hibbard 1892.   1902 


234  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

John  Hubbard  Miller 1893-95  Richard  R.   Hoffman 1904-08 

Frank  Marshall  Miller 1896-99  Henry    Kimball    1909 

H.  Albert  Gibbs 1900-01  Doric  W.   Forbes 1910-11 

Alfred  Darling 1903  Charles    Gifford    1912 

A  few  assessors  are  named  between  1855  and  1  * >  1  1  :  William  Besteder, 
1855-6;  Donald  Forbes,  1881-91:  Bryant  T.  Benson,  1882  and  1908-11; 
George  R.  Allen.  1883-4;  Alfred  Darling,  1892;  Edwin  O.  Kull,  1894-1906; 
Frank  A.  Grout,  1907, — whence  it  appears  that  sometimes  there  were  two 
assessors. 

JUSTICES   OF  THE   PEACE. 

lleman    li.   Allen 1864  Andrew    Kull,     |r 1874,   '76 

Clifton  S.  Arnold 1905,  '07  Edwin    O.    Kull 1892 

Rasmus    H.    Bjerning 1910  David  B.  Maine 1877-85 

Dewitt  C.  Blakeman 1859,  '61  John  Moore 1888,  '90,    1900 

Milton   B.    Carey 1875  William  C.  Moores,  v 1884 

Doric  W.  Forbes 1908  Frederick  C.  Paskie,  v !9°9 

Charles  R.  Foster__  1864-75,  1880-93  George   C.    Perry 1859-63 

Thomas   H.    drier 1892  Charles   H.    Prouty 1898 

Frederick   A.   Grout,   v 1902  Hugh  Reed 1868 

Andrew   W.  Hafs,  v.  v 1909.  'to  Frederick   C.    Richardson,    v 1895 

Nathan  Harrison 1868-75.  '/6-83  Henry  O.    Roberts.-      1884-87 

[chabod  A.  Hart i860  Dan  Rowe 1843,  '65 

Elijah  T.   Hibbard 95v.,  '98,  Amos  Wagman  Stafford 1870 

IOOT.   [903,  '04,  '10  James    S.    Stilson 1866 

Horace  Johnson 1862.   '69  William  E.  Trow 88  v.,  91-97 

Louis     \.    Kimball [893,   '95  Joel   Washburn i860 

These  dates  are  usually  those  of  the  several  elections  for  a  term  of  two 
years;  but  two  dates  connected  by  a  dash  indicate  beginnning  and  end  of 
service.  Vacancies,  rilled  for  one  year,  are  shown  by  letter  "v."'  Only  names 
of  justices  who  tiled  with  the  clerk  of  the  court  certificates  of  their  election 
are  shown,  because  of  the  uncertainty  as  to  winch  of  others  elected  took  the 
oath  of  office. 

GENOA    J  UNCI  CON  . 

Nature  drew  no  line  between  the  sovereignties  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin, 

The     fair    and     fertile    fields    of     Bloomfield,    I. inn.     Walworth,    and    Sharon 
stretch    1 . 1 1    southward  into  the  older  state.      Tin-  village  of   Richmond  is  about 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  235 

two  miles  below  the  point  at  which  the  Nippersink  abandons  Wisconsin,  little- 
more  than  a  stone's  throw  from  the  state  line.  Its  slightly  earlier  settlement 
and  its  immediate  growth  as  a  center  of  local  trade,  with  similar  development 
at  the  foot  of  Geneva  lake,  placed  churches,  schools,  mills,  shops  and  stores 
within  fairly  convenient  reach  of  the  earlier-coming  fanners  of  Bloom- 
held,  and  thus  retarded  village  platting  in  that  town. 

In  or  about  1850  James  F.  Dickerson  came  to  improve  the  null-site  and 
to  lay  out  a  village,  which  was  named  Genoa,  a  little  below  the  united  Nip- 
persink and  on  its  left  bank,  in  section  35,  within  a  quarter-mile  of  the  state 
line.  Its  railway  distances  are:  From  Chicago,  jj.i,  miles;  from  Richmond, 
1.3  miles;  from  Lake  Geneva,  H.j  miles;  from  Kenosha,  jj.^  miles;  from 
Harvard.  16.8  miles.  All  its  railway  connections  are  by  two  intersecting 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  lines.  In  no  long  time  arose  occasional  confusion 
in  the  mail  service  because  of  another  Genoa  in  DeKalb  county.  Illinois. 
To  avoid  this  the  word  "Junction''  was  added  to  the  village  name,  and  now 
Genoa  postoffice  is  in  Vernon  count},  Wisconsin.  The  territorial  road  from 
Kenosha  to  Beloit  passed  through  the  present  village  plat,  within  the  limits 
of  which  it  is  named  Walworth  street.  The  village  lies  on  slightly  uneven 
ground,  giving  easy  ascents  and  ready  drainage.  Its  appearance  as  a  whole 
and  in  detail  is  clean  and  homelike,  its  roadways  hard  and  smooth,  and  its 
cement  walks  are  now  measurable  in  miles.  In  the  modern  ways  of  city  life 
this  village  may  be  regarded  as  suburban — directly  and  quickly  reached  from 
Chicago  by  four  daily  trains. 

Charles  A.  Noyes  bought  in  [853  a  share  in  the  mill  property,  and  also 
built  the  Cottage  Inn,  to  which  the  Manor  House  succeeded  in  1  87  1  and 
remains  as  the  Junction  House.  .Mr.  Dickerson  had  died,  and  Adolph  Free- 
man had  married  his  widow  and  for  a  short  time  controlled  the  mill  manage- 
ment. Mr.  Noyes  was  followed  by  Thomas  Carter  and  A.  J.  Goin,  from 
whom  the  mill  passed  to  John  Alexander  Pierce,  of  Millard,  and  Charles 
Covell,  and  in  later  succession  to  John  Albert  Pierce,  the  Genoa  Junction 
1  ompany,  ami  Julian  M.  Carey.  Within  a  few  years  Mr.  Care)  turned  the 
water-power  to  its  presenl  use,  that  of  supplying  the  village  with  electric 
light.  The  Pierces  were  father  and  son.  and  their  ownership  of  the  mill 
was  in  more  than  one  way  memorable. 

Welcome  J.  Miller  came  in  [850  from  Kenosha,  where  be  had  well 
learned  his  business,  and  began  work  as  a  maker  of  carriages  and  farm 
wagon-  of  such  quality  and  workmanlike  finish  as  to  secure  a  wide  market 
for  his  steadily  increasing  production.  IN-  two  older  boys,  as  they  grew  to 
manhood,  became  hi-  partners,  and    for  long  the  Miller  wagon  made  the  linn 


236  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

and  the  village  famous.  Modern  conditions  of  manufacture  and  sale  do 
not  lung  permit  the  several  rivalries  of  small  establishments.  Mr.  Miller 
died  m  [885  and  the  sons  have  been  forced  into  more  humbly  useful  repair- 
ing and  smith-work. 

The  Borden  Condensed  Milk  Company,  whose  products  reach  the  fron- 
tiers of  civilization,  has  here  one  of  its  large  and  fully  ecmipped  factories, 
handling  the  local  supply  of  milk  to  the  extent  of  forty  thousand  pounds 
daily,  and  making  Genoa  Junction  an  important  shipping  station. 

H.  Albert  Gibbs  has  here  an  ice  cream  factory,  the  product  of  which 
finds  its  market  in  this  and  several  near-lying  counties.  His  business  seems 
likelv  to  be  permanent,  and  is  an  important  addition  to  the  village  enter- 
prises. 

The  yearly  production,  and  shipment  by  railway,  of  cabbages  has  be- 
come  a  noticeable  feature  of  local  industry. 

The  earliest  postoftice  here  was  named  Bloomheld,  and  was  successively 
named  Genoa  and  Genoa  Junction.  There  is  no  local  record  of  postmasters 
in  their  order  of  service  and  with  beginning  of  each  one's  term  of  ofhce.  but 
the  following  list  is  as  full  and  accurate  as  men's  memories  now  supply: 
James  S.  Stilson,  Schuyler  W.  Benson.  Julian  M.  Carey,  1878;  Albert  E. 
Simons,  1885;  John  Coppersmith,  1889;  Lanson  G.  Deignan,  1893;  Dexter 
B.  Holton;  Julian  Marcellus  Carey,  1897:  Charles  H.  Prouty,   [908. 

RELIGIOUS   SOCIETIES. 

Rev.  Lemuel  Hall,  a  pioneer  clergyman  then  of  Geneva,  came  April  5, 
[846,  in  ln-lp  Rev.  Leonard  Rogers  in  the  work  of  organizing  a  Congrega- 
tional society,  with  twelve  members,  at  the  center  school  house.  About  [852 
its  meeting  place  was  fixed  at  Genoa.  In  the  pastorate  of  .Mr.  Caldwell  a 
sightly  and  convenient  church  was  built  at  Park  and  Freeman  streets  at 
a  cost  (with  bell)  of  nearly  five  thousand  dollars.  This  was  in  1804-^.  Ad- 
dition was  made  in  [892  for  Sunday  school  room  and  parlors.  The  present 
membership  is  forty-four  persons.  Dr.  Benjamin  J.  Hill  has  been  clerk  of 
the  society  for  more  years  than  Ik1  can  tell  without  reference  to  church  record. 
Mis  nearesl  predecessor  was  Mrs.  Asa  C.  Rowe.  Mrs.  Frances  Bundy,  one 
of   the   rarhesi    members,    is  yet   living,   near   the    village,    in    her   eighty-sixth 

year,   her  mind  clear  and   tilled   with   memories  of  younger    III nlield.      The 

succession  of  pastors  is:  Leonard  Rogers,  184(1:  J.  V.  Downs;  Christopher 
Columbus  Caldwell,  1854:  Francis  J.  Douglas,  [869;  Charles  II.  Fraser,  [883; 
Hiram  \\ .  Harbaugh,  [886;  Henrj  <  >.  Spelman,  [890;  Bryant  C.  Preston, 
189J;  James  I!.  Orr  (three  months),  [893;  Herbert    V  Kerns,  [893;  Joseph 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  237 

W.  Helmer,  1895;  Frank  B.  Hicks,  1897;  Alexander  E.  Cutler,  1904;  Benja- 
min F.  Ray;  Frank  Atkinson;  Charles  Parmiter,  1910.  There  was  now  and 
then  an  interregnum  in  this  pastoral  succession — generally  not  more  than  of 
one  year's  length. 

It  has  been  told  as  a  fact  of  town  history  that  the  first  religious  society 
organized  was  by  twelve  Methodists,  at  the  center  school  house,  in  1X41. 
However  this  may  have  been,  except  for  prayer  meetings  at  convenient 
houses,  the  members  of  this  denomination  attended  church  at  Richmond  until 
1887.  In  that  year  they  met  at  Spice's  Hall,  in  Genoa  Junction,  Rev.  Daniel 
Cross  holding  services.  In  the  next  year  they  built  a  Sunday  school  room 
with  "supper  room"  above.  This  was  in  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Air.  Smith. 
In  1894  the  main  building  was  finished  and  dedicated,  with  Rev.  Frank  C. 
Richardson  as  pastor. 

Rt.  Rev.  Jackson  Kemper  held  Episcopal  service  in  August.  1X4S,  at 
Air.  Whiting's  house  in  section  32,  administered  communion  to  members  of 
the  Whiting  and  Sibley  families,  and  a  Whiting  daughter.  The  parish  of  the 
Holy  Communion  was  organized  in  October  with  William  H.  Whiting  and 
John  Sibley  as  wardens  and  Samuel  Allen.  Robert  Moore,  Charles  W.  Sibley 
and  Royal  Sikes  as  vestrymen.  Rev.  .Messrs.  McNamara,  Ludlum,  Peters 
and  Studley  were  successively  rectors  of  this  parish,  and  a  few  years  later 
the  rectors  at  Lake  Geneva  came  over  monthly.  In  the  absences  of  clerical 
attendance,  as  at  present,  the  service  is  read  by  lay  readers.  Mr.  Whiting 
built  a  chapel  in  1849  on  section  29,  for  temporary  use;  but  it  lias  nol  yet  been 
replaced  by  a  more  permanent  building. 

The  Evangelical  Lutheran  society  was  organized  in  [881,  its  mem- 
bership including  eight  families.  It  owns  a  lot  in  the  northern  pari  of  tin- 
village,  but  holds  its  services  in  alternate  afternoons  at  the  Congregational 
church  Its  pastorate  is  suplied  from  Lake  Geneva  or  Slade's  Corners,  lis 
present  membership  is  about  forty  families. 

The  German  Methodist  societj    was  formed  in   [885,  in  connection  with 
the  church  at  Bristol,  Kenosha  county.     It  holds  no  property,  but   uses  the 
Methodist   church    fortnightly  in  summer  and  once  in  three  weeks    in   winter 
It-  membership  is  .about  twenty-five. 

I  om  MERC!  \1     [NTERESTS. 

The  State  Bank  of  Genoa  [unction  was  organized  in  [904  with  lliel  Al. 
Holton  as  president,  John  Moore  as  vice-president,  Thomas  Moore  as  cashier, 
and  six  stockholders  besides.  The  capital  was  five  thousand  dollars.  This 
bank  seems  to  have  made  but  one  yearly  report. 


238  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Chester  A.  Stone  had  been  for  some  time  in  business  at  the  village  as  a 
private  banker.  In  1904  he  found  it  practicable  and  advisable  to  bring  his 
business  under  statutory  provisions.  With  thirty-five  other  stockholders  he 
organized  the  Citizens  State  Bank,  with  twelve  thousand  dollars  capital, 
Tames  Crier  Alien  as  president.  Hoxie  W.  Smith  as  vice-president,  and  him- 
self as  cashier.  Most  of  these  stockholders  are  men  of  the  town  and  village, 
and  of  Lake  Ceneva. 

About  1889  Capt.  Luther  Cranger  Riggs,  soldier,  poet  and  editor,  began 
to  publish  tlic  Genoa  Junction  Journal,  as  a  thus  localized  edition  of  his  paper 
at  Richmond.  lie  was  one  of  the  order  of  cry-aloud,  spare-not  country  editors, 
and  seemed  to  think  that  peace  is  dear  at  any  price  and  too  inglorious  for  an 
ex-centurion.  His  militant  editorship  was  regarded  as  vigorous  and  racy,  and 
it  was  rather  overcharged  with  his  own  personality.  His  paper  leaned  to- 
ward prohibitionism  and  the  abolition  of  minor  evils.  He  suffered  some 
loss  from  a  lawless  entry  upon  his  premises  at  Richmond,  with  attendant 
malicious  mischief,  as.  some  dumping  of  type  cases  or  newspaper  forms  into 
the  Nippersink.  His  troubled  career  ended  with  his  death,  October  31,  1891. 
1  le  was  then  aged  about  fifty  years. 

In  [900  a  new  paper,  the  Times,  began  under  ownership  of  Hurley  B. 
Begun,  followed  about  [902  by  Charles  F.  Dixon;  in  11)03  '>>'  A.  M.  Spence 
(but  initials  are  doubtful);  in  [903  by  Chauncey  A.  Swenson;  in  [909  by 
Morris  B.  Rice;  in  191 1  by  Swenson  F.  Foster,  by  whom  it  was  discontinued 
about  the  end  of  the  year. 

VILLAGE    ORGANIZATION. 

At  an  election  held  July  23,  [901,  the  citizens  of  Genoa  Junction  ac- 
cepted a  village  charter  by  vote  of  1  2j  to  107.  This  was  on  the  petition  of 
Dr.  Benjamin  J.  Bill,  Julian  M.  Carey,  Eli  E.  Manor,  John  Moore.  Edward 
Miller  and  Chester  A.  Stone.  William  Child,  county  surveyor,  established 
the  village  boundaries  and  made  a  plat  for  record  at  Elkhorn.  The  first  vil- 
lage board  was  made  up  of  Russell  Holmes  as  president,  with  Dr.  Benjamin  |. 
Bill,  Charles  1).  Cibbs.  George  Gookin,  H.  Frederick  Henning,  Eli  E.  Manor. 
Edward  Miller,  as  trustees;  Charles  D.  Blanke  as  clerk.  II.  Allien  Gibbs  as 
treasurer,  and  Julian  M.  Carey  as  member  of  the  county  board  Mr.  Holmes 
is  still  president,  having  been  relieved  only  in  [904  and  1910.  in  which  years 
John  H.  Miller  was  chosen.  Mr.  Blanke's  service  as  clerk  has  continued  with- 
out an  interval.  The  later  treasurers  elected  were  Clarence  A.  Graves  in 
[902,  Charles  II.  Prouty  in  1906,  Lanson  G.  Deignan  in  [908,   \.  Willis  Hyde 


WALW0RTI1    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  239 

1809.  Joseph  W.  Westlake  became  assessor  in  1902,  and  William  E.  Trow  in 
1903  and  is  still  in  service.  Mr.  Carey  served  four  years  on  the  county 
board,  followed  in  1905  by  Capt.  Theodore  A.  Fellows,  who  served  till  his 
death.  February  10,  191 2;  and  in  April  Mr.  Carey  was  called  back.  Dr.  Bill 
has  been  and  is  vet  health  officer. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


TOWN    AND   VILLAGE  OF  DARIEN. 


The  land  area  of  the  township  of  Darien  is  given  officially  as  22,700 
acres,  leaving  340  acres  (surveyor's  errors  excepted)  under  water.  Turtle 
creek  comes  out  of  Delavan  and  flows  in  the  devious  way  of  prairie  streams 
for  more  than  eight  miles  to  reach  the  line  of  Bradford,  in  the  next  county, 
making  a  sigmoid  flexure  through  sections  13,  12,  11,  10,  15,  16,  21,  17,  18, 
its  exit  from  Darien  nearly  due  west  from  its  entrance.  Its  tributaries  are 
few  and  small,  the  two  larger  ones  coming  out  of  Sharon,  crossing  sections 
32  and  31  near  Allen  Grove  and  meeting  the  Turtle  beyond  the  county  line. 
The  wooded  areas  were  greatest  in  sections  3,  4,  9.  The  smaller  forests  and 
groves  are  so  distributed  through  the  town  as  to  divide  the  open  country  into 
several  locally  named  prairies,  as  Blooming,  Hazel,  Ridge,  Rock,  and  Turtle. 
Rock  prairie,  in  the  northwestern  sections,  reaches  into  neighboring  towns, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  in  the  state. 

STATISTICS. 

County  clerk's  tables  for  lyio  show  a  total  land  value  of  $2,203,700, 
of  which  $104,400  is  the  estimate  for  two  unincorporated  villages.  Average 
value  per  acre,  $89.83.  Acreages  of  crops:  Apple  trees,  i  14;  barley,  4,095; 
beets,  20;  corn,  5,564;  growing  timber,  2,047;  hayfield,  3,785  ;  oats,  1.535; 
rye,  126;  wheat,  200;  no  potatoes.  Numbers  and  values  of  live  stock:  2,586 
cattle,  $67,200;  1,355  hogs.  $13,600;  731  horses,  $55,400;  9  mules,  $610; 
864  sheep,  $2,600.  Automobiles,  14.  The  population,  at  seven  federal  enum- 
erations, was:  1850,  1,013;  iSl1".  [,590;  1870,  1,583:  1880,  1,394:  [890, 
1,218;  1900,  1.371  ;  1910,  1, 241). 

Town  2  north,  range  15  cast,  was  at  first  included  in  the  town  of  Dela- 
van, from  which  it  was  detached  by  legislative  action  January  6,  1 S40,  and 
named  from  Darien.  Genesee  county,  New  York,  the  last  previous  home  of 
several  settlers  of  influence  in  the  new  community.  Elijah  Belding  and  Chris- 
topher C.  Chcsebrough  came  in  April,  1837,  apparently  by  way  of  the  Phoe- 
nix settlement,  making  claims  respectively  in  sections  1  1  and  14.  Both  broke 
land  and  planted  a  few  acres,  and  Mr.  Chesebrough  built  a  house,  though  he 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  24T 

had  not  yet  married.  Near  the  end  of  May,  Joseph  and  Arthur  \V.  Maxson 
followed  Turtle  vale  to  section  18,  where  they  found  passable  water  power, 
on  which,  four  years  later,  they  built  a  sawmill  and  thirteen  years  later  a 
gristmill.  In  June  William  H.  Moore  came  to  section  15.  and  Rev.  Hiram 
Alvah  Kingsley  to  section  19.  Mr.  Moore  raised,  threshed,  ground  and  ate 
the  first  grain  crop  raised  in  Darien.  John  Bruce,  Cyrus  and  John  Lippit, 
Salmon  and  Trumbull  D.  Thomas  came,  the  first  to  section  22,  the  Lippits  to 
section  35,  Salmon  Thomas  to  section  12,  his  brother  to  section  1.  August 
11,  1837,  Alfred  Delavan  Thomas,  son  of  Salmon,  was  born  to  other  use- 
fulness than  hoeing  corn  or  milking  cows. 

Within  the  next  four  years  came  Orange  \V.  and  William  T.  Carter, 
Ebenezer  and  Jabez  B.  Chesebrough,  John  Curtis,  Leander  Dodge,  Charles 
Ellsworth,  Jared  Fox,  Jasper  Griggs,  Cyrenus  N.,  Kinner,  Lemuel  and  Will- 
iam Hollister,  Robert  A.  Houston.  Alvah  B.,  Asher  and  Hiram  A.  Johnson, 
Loren  K.  and  Lyman  Jones,  Robert  Law-son,  Hugh  and  Chester  D.  Long, 
Elisha  McCollister,  William  Gregory  Mayhew,  Amos  Older,  Lyman  H. 
Seaver,  Hiram  A.  Stone,  John  Valentine  Walker,  John  and  Joseph  R.  Wil- 
kins,  Archibald  Woodard,  Minthorn  Woodhull. 

Before  the  new  town  was  seven  years  old  it  received  these  accessions  to 
its  citizenship:  Oscar  Anderson,  Hiram  Babcock,  Eusebius  Barwell,  Levi 
Beedle,  Dearborn  Blake,  Levi  Blakeman,  Willard  A.  Blanchard,  Jeremiah 
Bradway,  Philander  Brainerd,  Lorenzo  Carter,  John  Mudgett  Chase,  Wash- 
ington Chesebrough,  John  Clague,  George  Clapper.  Nicholas  S.  Comstock, 
John  B.  and  Richard  Cook.  George  Cotton,  Horace  Croswell,  Josiah  and 
Samuel  W.  Dodge,  James  Dudley,  Cornelius  Dykeman,  Walter  P.  Flanders, 
Asa  Foster,  Samuel  Fowle,  Henry  Frey,  Alexander  and  James  Gallup,  Thomas 
George,  Homer  B.  Greenman,  Samuel  K.  Gregory,  John  Haskell.  Silas  llaskin, 
John  B.  Hastings,  Robert  Hutchinson,  Amos  Ives,  Parley  W.  fones,  Peter 
M.  K.eeler.  Eli  and  Henry  King,  John  Sardine  Kingsley.  Stephen  Kinney. 
Timothy  Knapp,  S.  Rees  LaBar,  Ira  P.  Larnard,  Zebulon  T.  Lee,  David 
Lindsey,  James  McCay,  Newton  McGraw,  Stephen  and  Thomas  M.  Mc 
Hugh,  Moses  McKee,  Thomas  M.  and  William  Martin.  Alfred  A.  Mott, 
Joseph  Edward  Newberry,  Jacob  and  John  N.  Niskern,  Edson  P..  ami  Will- 
iam Older,  Hiram  Onderdonk,  Amos  Otis,  Joshua  Parish,  Nicholas  Perry, 
Amasa  T.  and  Ovid  Reed.  John  Reinhardt,  Lucius  Relyea,  Erastus  Rood, 
Charles  F.  and  James  A.  Scofield,  John  Woodard  Seaver,  John  Martin  Sher- 
man. William  H.  Shimmins,  Henry  Smith.  Charles  I'.  Soper,  Joseph  Murray 
Stihvell,  Randall  Stone.  Edwin  and  Luke  Taylor,  Ezekiel  Trip]),  Isaac  Vail, 
(16) 


242  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Abraham  and  Cornelius  Veeder,  Josiah  Vrooman,  George  Walker,  Alfred 
Watrous,  Rial  N.  Weed,  Carey  Welch,  Victor  Moreau  Wheeler,  Lewis  Wil- 
kinson,-John  Williams,  Ebenezer  and  John  Woodard. 

Christopher  Columbus  Chesebro,  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Anna,  was  born 
in  Albany  county,  November  13,  1S16;  died  at  Darien  March  14.  1841.  He 
married  Maria  Johnson,  June  12,  1839. 

Jabez  Brooks  Chesebro  (1811-1881),  eldest  son  of  Ebenezer,  married 
Mary  Simpson  and  had  six  children. 

Nelson  W.  Cole  (1818-1903)  married  Harriet  (1832-1900),  daughter 
of  Martin  and  Esther  Post. 

Asa  Foster  (1807-1857)  bought  land  in  sections  22.  30.  He  married 
Lucy  (1810-1881),  daughter  of  Orange  Carter  and  Elizabeth  Rumsey. 

Henry  Frey  (1785-1865)  and  wife,  Amelia  J.  (1794-1839),  must  have 
been  among  the  earliest  settlers,  since  Mrs.  Frey's  tombstone  is  in  the  village 
burial  ground.  Her  death,  then,  is  the  earliest  found  in  the  town.  Mr.  Frey 
was  for  some  years  postmaster,  and  was  an  active  business  man.  His  son, 
Philip  R.  Frey,  was  first  railway  station  agent  at  Darien,  and  was  transferred 
to  the  station  at  Corliss  about  1870. 

James  Gale  (1821-1884)  married  Phoebe  Ann  (1826-1903),  daughter 
of  Frederick  Rosekrans  and  Desire  Braman. 

John  Brooks  Hastings  (1815-1902)  was  born  at  Pembroke,  New  York; 
came  to  Darien  in  1843;  married  in  1846  Hannah  Maria  (1825-1882), 
daughter  of  Alexander  and  Elizabeth  Reed. 

Asher  Johnson  (1 791-1873)  came  from  Steuben  county,  New  York; 
bought  land  in  sections  4,  17,  19,  20.  His  wife  was  Amy  Smith  (1793-1882). 
Sons,  Alvah  B.,  Hiram  A.,  John  J.,  and  Samuel,  and  daughter  Celeste  (Mrs. 
Joseph  R.  Wilkins). 

Alvah  B.  Johnson,  son  of  Asher  (1812-1899),  married,  first,  Hannah 
Boyce  (1818-1845)  •  second,  Jane  P.  Kerns. 

Zebulon  Taylor  Lee  (1801-1858),  son  of  Ouartus  Lee  and  Keziah  John- 
son, was  In  nil  at  Willington,  Connecticut,  and  was  buried  at  Allen  Grove. 
He  married  Sabra  (1804-1883),  daughter  of  Orange  and  Elizabeth  Carter. 
He  bought  land  in  section  32.  Of  his  children  were  Amelia  Josephine  (Mrs. 
Dr.  John  Dickson).  Laura  Ann  (Mrs.  Chester  IX  Long),  Almirette  (Mrs. 
William  II.  Babcock). 

Cyrus  Lippit  (1810-1888).  son  of  Hezekiah  and  Susan,  came  from 
I  attaraugus  county  to  section  35  in  1838,  having  married  in  [832,  with  his 
wife  Lydia  (  1810-1881),  sister  of  John  Bruce.  She  was  born  at  Phelps,  Xew 
York,     Her  sister  Susan  was  ^Irs    William  Phoenix. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  243 

Ovid  Reed  (1820-1890),  son  of  Alexander  and  Elizabeth,  born  in 
Darien,  New  York;  married  Jane  M.  Seaver,  daughter  of  Joseph  W.  and 
Mary. 

Erastus  Rood  1  [816-1900)  married  Hannah  M.  |  [826-19P0),  daughter 
of  John  and  Susan  Wilkins. 

Charles  P.  Soper  (1821-1879),  son  of  Asahel  and  Clarissa,  married, 
first.  Harriet  C.  ( 1820- 1846)  ;  married,  second,  in  1N4N.  Wealthy  I.  Gallup 
1  [823-1910).  Asahel  (  1790-1846)  and  Clarissa  (1793-1869)  died  at  Darien. 
They  were  from  central  New  York. 

Salmon  Thomas  (1 801 -1887)  and  wife,  Elizabeth  Stowell  (1816-1893), 
removed  to  Delavan  village. 

Trumbull  Dorrance  Thomas  (1806-1889)  and  wife,  Mary  Jane  (1818- 
1885),  also  removed  to  Delavan.     He  was  Salmon's  brother. 

John  Wilkins  (1872-1868)  and  wife,  Susan  f  1 794-1851 ) ,  came  from 
New  Jersey  with  sons  James  (1805-1900)  and  Joseph  Rusling  (1817-1907). 
James  married  Hannah  Ferguson  (  1806-1878).  Joseph  Rusling  Wilkins 
married  Celeste  (1818-1891),  daughter  of  Asher  Johnson. 

John  Williams,  Jr.  (  1 798-1877),  married  Ann,  daughter  of  Orange  and 
Elizabeth  Carter.     A  son.  Deloss  (1824-1907),  married  Lydia  M.   Phelps. 

EARLY  GROWTH. 

In  1837  John  Bruce  built  a  house  near  the  road  to  Beloit  at  the  central 
part  of  section  27.  This  modest  mansion  also  served  as  a  wayside  inn,  until 
[843,  when  his  son,  James  R.  Bruce,  built  a  hotel  with  such  substantial 
frame  and  workmanship  that  it  still  serves  the  purpose  of  a  public  house. 
Henry  Frey  built  a  store  in  1844,  and  filled  it  with  a  large  stock  of  goods. 
A  postoffice  had  been  established  there  in  1839.  A  hamlet  grew  slowly  about 
these  buildings  until  1856,  in  which  year  Mr.  Frey,  Hiram  A.  Stone  and 
Edward  Topping  platted  the  village  of  Darien,  through  the  middle  of  which 
the  railway  came  that  year  from  Racine  and  onward  to  Beloit.  The  new 
station  at  once  became  an  important  point  for  shipping  the  abundant  grain 
crops  of  Darien  and  other  towns,  and  as  busy  a  distributing  point  for  the 
trade  in  pine  lumber.  Less  grain  than  then  is  now  raised  and  forwarded. 
but  the  station  has  not  lost  its  relative  importance.  Before  1862  five  grain 
houses  were  built,  severally  by  Parker  M.  Cole,  Hiram  Onderdonk,  John 
Williams,  John  Bruce  and  M.  Bushnell  Stone.  These  have  been  operated 
by  men  who  knew  how  to  draw  and  hold  trade. 

The  village  is  on  slightly  uneven  ground,  bul  has  no  difficult  street 
grades.     It  is  generally  a  few   feet  higher  than  at  the  station,  where  it  is 


244  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

945  feet  above  sea  level.  It  is  9.4  miles  from  Elkhorn,  65.9  miles  from 
Milwaukee  (by  rail),  84.7  miles  from  Chicago.  It  is  as  yet  unincorporated, 
and  has  about  four  hundred  inhabitants.  (In  October,  191 1,  the  village  re- 
jected a  proposition  to  incorporate  by  a  decisive  majority.) 

Its  churches  are  Baptist  and  Methodist,  each  costing  about  three  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  town  of  Darien  has  seven  school  districts,  of  which  three 
are  joint  districts.  The  village  supports  a  graded  school,  with  six  teachers, 
doing  excellent  work.  The  school  house  was  built  in  1903  of  red  brick, 
two  stories  high.  A  town  hall,  very  convenient  for  many  public  occasions, 
was  built  about  1870  and  burned  July  28,  1909,  and  with  it  most  of  the 
priceless  town  records. 

In  1897  the  Farmers'  State  Bank  was  organized  with  a  capital  of  fifteen 
thousand  dollars,  John  R.  Eagan  cashier  and  resident  officer.  It  has  a  build- 
ing suitable  for  its  purpose.  Like  most  villages  in  the  county,  Darien  is  an 
active  dairy  center.  Its  cemetery,  northwest  of  the  village,  lies  on  sloping 
ground,  and  is  kept  in  perfect  order.  Several  of  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the 
town  we're  buried  there,  and  also  at  the  Mount  Philip  cemetery,  Allen  Grove, 
which  lies  north  of  the  station,  within  the  town  of  Darien.  The  village 
(Darien)  has  a  tidy  little  park  of  two  or  three  acres;  but,  in  larger  sense,  the 
village  itself  with  all  one  may  see,  from  its  higher  points,  of  field  and  grove 
makes  one  of  the  finest  parks  in  Wisconsin. 

Clinton  street,  Allen  Grove,  lies  along  the  south  line  of  Darien,  in  section 
31  ;  and  the  Sidney  Allen  addition  to  the  village  plat  lies  north  of  that  street. 
The  railway  keeps  to  the  Darien  side,  having  its  station  at  the  top  of  Allen's 
hill,  at  an  inconvenient  distance  from  the  half-abandoned  village.  Bardwell 
station,  or  crossing,  at  first  named  "Tioga,"  is  in  section  32.  2.5  miles  from 
Darien  and  1.7  miles  from  Allen  Grove.  Its  station  building  and  its  Y's 
are  all  there  is  in  sight  besides  the  intersecting  lines  of  two  divisions  of  the 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  railway  system.  Why  this  crossing  was  not 
made  at  Darien  may  be  one  of  the  inscrutabilities  of  railway  building. 

As  nearly  as  may  now  be  learned  the  town  and  village  of  Darien  fur- 
nished one  hundred  thirty-eight  soldiers  for  the  Civil  war.  Migration  and 
death  have  so  far  reduced  the  number  of  resident  ex-soldiers  as  to  suspend  the 
once  flourishing  Grand  Army  post. 

The  several  postmasters  were  Christopher  C.  Chesebro,  John  Bruce. 
Henry  Frey,  Edward  Topping,  Moses  Bushnell  Stone.  Nathaniel  Wing  Hoag, 
Joseph  F.  Lyon,  Charles  S.  Teeple,  George  F.  Lathrop,  Rodney  Seaver,* 
Horace  Everett  Seaver,  Edwin  E.  Park,*  Frederick  Siperley,  John  W.  Gar- 
butt.*     The  three  whose  name-  are  starred  were  soldiers  of  1861. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


245 


The  loss  of  records,  burned  with  the  town  hall,  makes  the  official  list 
of  the  town  somewhat  incomplete;  though  part  has  been  recovered  from 
county  clerk's  and  circuit  court  clerk's  records,  and  part  from  newspaper 
files  at  Delavan  and  Elkhorn. 


CHAIRMEN    O!--    BOARD  OF  SUPERVISORS. 


Salmon  Thomas 1842,  '44,  '53 

John  Bruce 1843,  '45 

Newton  McGraw 1846-7 

Gaylord  Blair 1848 

George   Cotton   1849-52 

Chester   Deming  Long 1854 

Hiram  Averill  Johnson 1855,  '58 

John   Brooks   Hastings 1856 

Josiah  Dodge 1857 

George  \Y.  Lamont !8.S9 

Parker  M.   Cole 1860-62 


John  DeWolf 1863,  76-  '79 

Horace  Everett  Seaver 1864 

John  J.  Johnson 1865-6,  1885-6 

Joseph  Foster  Lyon 1867-72,  '74-5 

Daniel   Rodman 1873 

John  B.  Johnson 1877,  '80-1,  '84 

Darwin  Pratt  Clough 1878.  '87-1)7 

William    P.lakeley 1882-3 

John  McFarlane 1898-9. 

John    Piper   1900-1 

George  Christie 1902-12 


ASSOCIATE  SUPERVISORS. 


Charles   Allen 1875-6,  '79 

Isaac  \V.  Babcock__i867,  '79-80,  '82-3 

Willard  B.  Babcock 1861,  '78 

George  W.  Benner 1901-08 

Gaylord  Blair 1850 

Byron  J.    Blakeley 1899-1900 

Willard  Blanchard 1849 

Daniel  Carey 1885 

Orange  Walker  Carter 1845,  '&9 

George  Christie 1886-95,   1900 

Rufus  Conable 1850 

George  Cotton 1846 

John  Cusack 1893-96,  '98 

Truman  P.  Davis 1865 

John  DeWolf 1856,  '58 

Josiah  Dodge 1849 

Lemuel    Downs   1878 

Tared  Fox 1843 


Cyrenus  M.   Fuller 1864 

James  Gale 1859-60 

Moody  Orlando  Grinnell 1859 

Wickham  H.  Griswold 1877,  '85 

Lewis  E.  Hastings 1888-90 

Henry  J.  Heyer 1898 

Edwin   E.    Ilillman 1873 

Uriah  Schutt  Hollister 

1866,  '70-2.,  '74 

Asher  Johnson     [842,  '45,  '48.  '52 

Hiram  Averill  Johnson J853"4 

John  J.  Johnson 1863 

William   B.  Johnson 1872 

Abi jali  Jones 1862 

Loren  Kenney  Jones 1844,  '60 

George    W.    Lamont 1858 

Ehenezer  Latimer 1851 

Peter  M.  Latimer 1862 


246 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


John  Lippit 1843 

Hugh   Long 1844 

James  W.  Long 1891-2,  '97 

Alexander  A.  McKay 1870-1 

Johnson   Good  well   Matteson_i88i-2 

Arthur   W.    Maxson 1867 

Frank  Niskern 1887 

Hiram  Onderdonk J85I-3 

Joshua   Parish   1854 

Frank   Pounder ^97 

Dr.  Andrew  J.  Rodman 1876 

Daniel  Rodman 1869 

William   Rood 1899 


Horace  Everett  Seaver 1863,  '66 

Lyman  Hunt  Seaver 1842, '45, '57 

Charles  P.  Soper__  1848, '56,  '65,  '68 

Arthur  H.    Stewart 1880-1 

Hiram  A.   Stone 1857 

Israel  Stowell 1868,  '73 

Charles  S.  Teeple 1864 

Edgar  Topping 1861 

John   Milton  Vanderhoof 1909-12 

Rial   X.   Weed 1847 

John   Williams 1846-7 

William  H.  Williams 1874-5,   'yj 

Elmer  C.   Woodford 1901-11 


Names  are  wanting  for  both  supervisors  in  1884,  and  for  one  of  them  in 
each  of  the  years  1883.  '86,  '90,  and  '93;  but  it  is  probable  that  Mr.  Chris- 
tie's service  was  continuous  from  1886  to  1896  inclusive. 


TOWN    CLERKS. 


Joseph  Warren  Seaver 1842-6,  '57 

Andrew   J.    Weatherwax 1847 

Jonathan    Hastings 1848 

Calvin   Serl    1849 

Charles  P.  Soper 1850-2,  '54 

Elias  W.  Grow 1853 

William   A.  Waterhouse 1855-6 

Nathaniel  Wing  Hoag 

1858-62,  '64-71 


Orange  Williams 1863 

Theron  Rufus  Morgan 1872,  '76-9 

Horace  Everett  Seaver 1873-5,  '85 

John  Milton  Vanderhoof 

1 880-3,  '86-9 

Rile)-  S.  Young 1890-7 

George  L.  Reed 1898-11)1-' 


TOWN    TREASURERS. 


Loren  Kenney  Jones 1842 

Hiram  A.   Stone 1843 

Leander  Dodge 1844 

\.sa   Foster 1845-6 

Jonathan  Hastings 1847 

Henry    Frey   1848-9 

Hugh   Long 1850,  '59 


William  A.   Waterhouse 

'51-2,  '57-8,  '61-2,  '64,  '68 

Lyman    Hunt    Seaver ^53 

James  Gale 1854 

William   Harper 1855,  '60 

John   I).  Older 1856 

John  S.  Hodge 1863 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


247 


Joseph  Foster  Lyon 1865-6 

John  Milton  Vanderhoof 1869 

Leroy  Dodge 1870 

Avery  H.  Stone 1871-2 

Lucius  C.  Waite 1873-4 

James  Stryker 1875-6 

Darwin  Pratt  Clough 1877 


Rodney   Seaver-  1878-80,  '82,  '85-90 

William  Edwin  Clough 1881,  '87 

Edwin  E.  Park 1883-4 

John  McFarlane 1891-5 

Henry  J.  Heyer 1896 

James  Thorpe 1897-1912 


JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE. 


Ellis  S.  Barrett 1911-12 

Edwin  Buck  Carter 1885-88 

John  S.  Dodge 1862-64 

John  Gilbert 1910-12 

Orvellus  Henry  Gilbert- 1860-4,  '72-4. 
Nicholas  Montgomery  Harring- 
ton   1861-6 

William  Harrison 1859-61 

Uriah  Schutt  Hollister 1867-8 

Hiram  Averill  Johnson 1887-8 

George  W.  Lamont 1863-7 

Chester  Deming  Long 1877-82 

James  W.  Long 1888-9 

Joseph  Foster  Lyon 1863-9,  74_(l 

Arthur  \Y.   Maxson__  1864-6,  '69-71 
Peter  J.  Miserez 1900-1 


Washington  Mulks_  1890-2,  '99-1901 

Eugene  D.  Odell 1885-7,  '89-93 

Dr.  Andrew  Jackson  Rodman 

1883-4 

Adna  Viles  Sawyer 1897-1910 

David  H.  Seaver,  bet.  1896  and  1905 

Horace  Everett  Seaver 1881-3 

Calvin  Serl 1860-1,  '64-6 

Edwin  II.  Smith__  1878-94,  '97-1902 

Charles  P.  Soper 1866-70 

Calvin  Graham   Sperry 1866-8 

Moses  Bushnell  Stone 1859-61 

John   Milton  Vanderhoof 1871-7 

Bert  H.  Welch 1895-6 

David  Williams 1869-79,  '82-99 

Archibald  Woodard 1870-8 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TOWN    OF   DELAVAN. 

At  the  first  division  of  the  county,  January  2,  1838,  for  town  govern- 
ment the  southwestern  quarter  was  named  Delavan.  The  Phoenix  brothers 
sought  thus  to  dedicate  a  newly  planted  community  to  total  abstinence  from 
the  use  as  beverages  of  spirituous  and  malt  liquors,  wine  and  cider.  Ed- 
ward Cornelius  Delavan,  a  rich  man  of  Albany,  took  an  early  part  and 
became  a  leader  of  great  personal  influence  in  the  temperance  movement  of 
the  later  thirties,  which  increased  noticeably  for  some  years  thereafter.  The 
organization,  founded  on  a  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  moral  suasion,  was  volun- 
tary, and  without  other  ritual  than  a  publicly  taken  pledge.  Officially  named 
the  New  York  State  Temperance  Society,  its  members  were  better  known 
as  "Washingtonians."  Mr.  Delavan's  social  position,  as  well  as  his  ability  and 
earnestness,  made  his  name  a  household  word  in  temperance  families  until 
his  fame  was  eclipsed,  about  1850,  by  Neal  Dow,  the  apostle  of  "legal  sua- 
sion." In  their  sales  and  leases  of  real  estate  in  their  new  town  and  village 
the  Phoenix  proprietors  inserted  a  covenant,  in  effect,  that  no  liquor  should 
ever  be  sold  on  land  conveyed  or  left  by  them.  But  this  stipulation  did  not 
long  outlast  their  own  short  lives. 

The  town  of  Walworth  (with  Sharon)  was  set  off  in  1839,  and  the 
town  of  Darien  early  in  the  next  year,  leaving  the  name  Delavan  to  town  2 
north,  range  16  east.  One  more  dismemberment,  February  2,  1846,  gave 
section  1  to  the  new  town  of  Elkhorn.  Of  seven  measurements  recorded 
by  the  state  topographers  the  highest  and  lowest  points  were  respectively 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-eight  ami  nine  hundred  and  five  feet  above  sea-level. 
The  higher  ground  is  in  the  vicinity  of  Delavan  lake.- — on  both  sides  and  at 
its  foot, — at  points  along  it ^  outlel  ami  on  hanks  of  Turtle  creek,  and  in 
the  sections  lying  nearest  the  town  of  Sugar  Creek. 

Delavan  lake  is  second  in  area  and  only  in  that  way  inferior  in  its  nat- 
ural beauty  to  Geneva  lake.  It  is  about  three  and  one-half  miles  long,  from 
a  half-mile  to  a  mile  in  breadth,  and  its  greatest  depth,  near  its  middle  point, 
is  fifty-six  and  seven-tenths  feet.  Its  largest  inlet.  Jackson's  creek,  comes 
from  Geneva  into  the  town  at  section  12  and  crosses  sections  14  and  22  to 
reach  the  foot  of  the  lake.     A  much  smaller  stream  comes  out  of  Walworth, 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  249 

crosses  sections  33,  34  for  less  than  a  mile,  and  meets  the  lake  near  its  tipper 
end.  Its  one  outlet,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  larger  inlet,  takes  a  swan- 
necked  course  to  reach  the  Turtle  near  the  city  of  Delavan.  A  widening 
of  Turtle  creek,  near  by,  locally  named  Lake  Como,  completed  the  sugges- 
tion to  Pottawattomie  imagination  of  the  body,  neck,  and  head  of  the  bird 
from  which  they  named  the  lake  and  its  outlet.  Turtle  creek  comes  out  of 
Richmond  into  section  6,  enters  Darien  from  section  18,  and  winds  its  way  to 
the  Rock  near  Beloit.  The  so-called  island,  which  at  wettest  seasons  has  been 
really  an  island,  rises  high  above  the  water  level,  at  the  head  of  the  lake,  as 
if  to  mask  a  small  marsh  which  was  part  of  the  primitive  lake-basin. 

The  farms  at  the  broad  foot  of  the  lake  are  among  the  finest  in  the 
county.  They  were  owned  for  many  years  by  the  Mabie  brothers  and  their 
heirs,  but  have  passed  into  other  ownership.  The  high  banks  of  the  lake, 
once  well-wooded  and  now  not  wholly  bare,  are  lined  with  summer  homes, 
hotels,  parks,  picnic  grounds  and  steamer  landings, — and,  in  brief,  the  Algon- 
quin fishermen's  Wah-ba-shaw-bess  has  become  the  white  men's  highly  civ- 
ilized Delavan  lake.  Whatever  changes  have  been  or  may  be  made,  the  lake 
itself  and  the  natural  height  and  slope  of  its  containing  walls  will  remain; 
and  the  Pottawattomie' s  grandson  may  fish  as  of  yore  in  Swan  lake,  but 
must  first  buy  the  county  clerk's  license  and  must  submit  his  catch  to  the 
game  warden's  count.  The  Delavan  Lake  Assembly  Association's  ground, 
about  thirty-seven  acres,  fully  equipped  with  auditorium  and  other  suitable 
buildings,  lies  at  the  head  of  the  outlet.  Its  yearly  meetings  bring  visitors 
from  far  beyond  the  county  borders,  and  have  had  their  part  in  making  the 
little  lake  a  part  of  the  geography  of  American  inland  waters,  not  to  know 
which  argues  one's  self  unknown  and  as  having  yet  something  of  rational 
interest  to  learn.  About  thirty-five  years  ago  a  steamer,  the  "D.  A.  Olin," 
was  built  and  launched,  but  was  found  rather  too  large  for  practical  use.  The 
present  flotilla  is  two  small  serviceable  steamers  and  numerous  unregistered 
sail-boats. 

The  land  area  of  the  town  of  Delavan  is  18,751  acres,  valued  at  $2,629,- 
000,  an  average  value  $140.25  per  acre.  Crop  acreages  for  1910  were:  Bar- 
ley, 1,556;  corn,  345:  growing  timber,  1,183;  hayfields,  3.038;  oats,  1,769; 
orchards,  54;  potatoes,  135;  rye,  166;  wheat,  28.  There  were  nine  automo- 
biles. The  population  of  town  and  village  in  1850  was  1,268.  At  the  six 
following  federal  enumerations  it  was  for  the  town:  i860,  890;  1870,  821; 
1880,  930;  1890,  667;  1900,  993;  1910,  903. 

Col.  Samuel  F.  Phoenix  having  discovered  the  lake,  its  outlet,  and  the 
point  at  which  the  road   from  Racine  to  Janesville  must  cross  the  swan's 


25O  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

neck,  chose  his  lands  by  quarter-sections  and  half-quarters  in  sections  15, 
20,  21,  22,  33,  34.  He  built  his  cabin  in  section  15,  near  the  foot  of  the 
lake.  Henry  Phoenix  entered  land  in  sections  7,  17.  18,  19,  20,  21.  The 
brothers  jointly  entered  parts  of  sections  23,  24,  28,  29.  Section  18  includes 
the  site  of  their  village.  These  men  dealt  justly  and  liberally  with  other 
men  who  came  to  build  and  people  the  rising  city.  The  Phoenixes  came 
with  enough  money  for  their  enterprise,  and  their  money,  business  abilities, 
and  personal  character  and  qualities  gave  them  proportionate  influence  as 
long  as  they  lived.  A  house  was  built  early  enough  in  1836,  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  outlet  and  within  the  village  as  soon  afterward  platted,  to  admit 
their  cousin,  William  Phoenix,  and  wife  Susan,  with  their  family  and  board- 
ers, as  occupants,  in  October.  Allen  Perkins  had  also  built  earlier  in  the  year, 
at  a  point  on  Turtle  creek,  within  section  18,  but  did  not  stay  long.  In  1837 
Colonel  Phoenix  brought  his  wife  and  son  from  Perry,  New7  York,  and 
Henry's  family  came  in  1838. 

A  saw-mill  was  built  between  the  village  and  the  lake  in  1838,  and  was 
at  once  set  at  work  to  turn  out  materials  for  a  grist-mill,  at  the  village.  In 
1838  a  stock  of  goods  was  brought  and  set  out  for  sale,  at  first  near  the 
saw-mill,  but  a  few  weeks  later  at  the  house  in  the  village.  One  of  the 
earliest  revenue  measures  of  the  county  commissioners  was  to  impose  a  deal- 
er's license  fee  of  ten  dollars  on  the  firm  of  H.  &  S.  F.  Phoenix ;  but  it  does 
not  appear  in  record  that  the  county  commissioners  licensed  a  tavern  in  town 
or  village. 

No  registry  of  arrivals  was  ever  made  and  preserved,  but  the  persons 
here  named  probably  came  to  village  or  town  by  or  before  1843:  Abner 
Adams,  William  C.  Allen,  Ira  Andrus,  James  Aram,  John  Auchampaugh, 
William  Averill,  Enoch  Bailey  and  sons,  Henry,  Nehemiah  and  Samuel  W. 
Barlow,  William  A.  Bartlett,  Richard  Beals  (wife  Lucy  Beardsley),  Richard 
S.  Bond,  Daniel  Bowen  (d.  i860),  Peter  Boys  (1783-1855),  Jeremiah  Brad- 
ley, Cyrus,  Edwin,  and  Ichabod  Brainard  f  1 776-1855) ,  Martin  Brooks,  Isaac 
Burson,  Chester  P.,  Hiram,  and  Nelson  Calkins.  David  Perry  Calkins,  Luther 
Chapin,  Jonathan  C.  Church,  Daniel  Clough,  John  Dalton  (1800-1887)  and 
wife  Ellen,  Edmund  Dickenson,  I.azarus  W.  Ellis,  John  Evans,  James  F. 
Flanders,  Walter  Flansburg.  Daniel  G.  Foster,  Abraham  Fryer,  John  and 
Stephen  P.  Fuller,  Daniel  Gates,  Levi  Gloyd,  Marcellus  B.  Goff  (1808-1884), 
Jasper  Griggs,  Benjamin  F.  and  Henry  Hart,  Edwin  A.  and  William  Hol- 
linshead,  Edward  B.  Hollister,  Isaac  C.  Howe  (1793-1887),  Dr.  Hender- 
son Hunt,  John  James,  Asa  G.,  Milo,  and  Samuel  C.  Kelsey,  Daniel  E. 
La  Bar,  James  H.  Mansfield,  Hilas  Meacham,  Lewis  H.  Miller.  Tames  Mof- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  _>  ^  I 

fatt,  John  Murray,  Edward  Norris,  Alvin  B.  and  Chauncey  Parsons,  George 
Passage,  Webster  Pease,  Ira  C.  and  Ransom  Perry,  Truman  Pierce  (1787- 
j 8(1(1 1.  Thomas  Potter,  Joseph  Rector,  James  Richardson  (1781-1846),  Peter 
Robinson,  John  I.  Scrafford,  John  B.  Shepard,  Erastus  Stoddard,  Israel 
Stowell,  Philo  S.  Sykes,  Aaron  H.  Taggart,  Hiram  Terry,  Rev.  Henry  Top- 
ping, Ira  and  Samuel  Utter,  Jeremiah  Philbrook  Ward,  Eleazar  Gaylord  War- 
ren, Thomas  Wells,  Lewis  H.  Willis,  James  Wilson,  John  Yost. 

Ichabod  Brainard  (1776-1855)  married  a  second  wife,  Mary  (born 
1779)>  daughter  of  John  Cleveland  and  Eunice  Cutler.  Cyrus  was  their 
son,  as  was  probably  Edwin,  who  married  Mary  A.,  daughter  of  William 
and  Ann  Phoenix. 

Isaac  Burson  (1810-1881)  was  son  of  James  Burson  and  Deborah 
Stroud,  and  was  born  in  Monroe  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  brother 
of  Mrs.  William  Hollinshead.  He  lived  unmarried,  and  died  at  Elkhorn, 
March  5,  1881.  His  burial  was  delayed  for  some  days  by  the  memorable 
snow  blockade  of  that  year.  He  bought  land  in  section  4,  Delavan,  and 
sections  20,  33,  Sugar  Creek. 

Chester  Porter  Calkins  (1818-1890)  married  Catharine,  daughter  of 
Abraham  Sperbeck.  He  was  buried  at  East  Delavan. 

Jonathan  C.  Church  (1811-1870)  married  Dorcas,  daughter  of  Thomas 
James  and  Dorcas  Perry. 

Rev.  James  F.  Flanders  married  Ann  Elizabeth  Porter,  June  4,  1839. 
It  is  not  shown  where  this  marriage  took  place,  but  it  was  within  the  larger 
town  of  Elkhorn. 

Daniel  Oilman  Foster  (1802),  son  of  Daniel  Foster  and  Al.m  Davis, 
a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  married  Caroline,  daughter  of  Daniel  Brainard ; 
came  from  Perry,  New  York,  in  1838  and  bought  land  in  sections  7,  21. 

Stephen  P.  Fuller  married  Man.  daughter  of  Nehemiah  Barlow  and 
Orinda  Steele.   His  sister.  Loraine  P..  Fuller,  was  Doctor  Hunt's  firsl  wife. 

Daniel  Stroud  Hollinshead  (1812-1869),  son  of  James  Hollinshead  and 
Sarah  Stroud,  married  Rachel  Sherrod  (1807-1853)-  Edwin  Augustus  and 
William  were  his  brothers.  The  former  bought  land  in  section  34,  Sugar 
Creek. 

Edward  Brigham  Hollister  (1823-1801),  son  of  Seth  L.  Hollister  and 
Catharine  Brigham,  married  Harriet,  daughter  of  Francis  Eaton. 

Milo  and  Samuel  C.  Kelsey  were  sons  of  Samuel  Kelsey  and  Elizabeth 
Carver,  of  Sherburne,  New  York.  Sarah  Ann.  their  sister,  was  wife  of 
Colonel  Phoenix.     Asa  G.  Kelsey's  relationship  may  have  been  that  of  brother 


252  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

or  of  cousin.  Milo  was  the  first  lawyer  at  Delavan.  Samuel  C.  was  a  sur- 
veyor, teacher  and  architect.  He  married  Caroline  M.,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Betts. 

Daniel  Edwin  La  Bar  (1789-1839)  married  Hannah  (1793-1856), 
daughter  of  Samuel  Rees  and  Rachel  Stroud  (1774-1854).  He  came  in 
1839  to  sections  6.  7.  His  son,  Samuel  Rees  La  Bar  (1820-1896).  came  in 
the  same  year.  His  wife  was  Harriet  Nuel,  daughter  of  Rev.  Henry  Topping 
and  Nuel  Van  Doren. 

Ira  C.  Perry  bought  land  in  section  31.  April  5,  1843,  he  married  Ann 
Briggs. 

Truman  Pierce  (1787-1866)  bought  in  section  31.  His  wife,  Lucy,  was 
born  in  1793.  Two  of  his  sons-in-law  were  Kirtland  G.  Wright  and  Calvin 
Carrington.  He  and  his  mother,  Mary  (1755-1852),  were  buried  at  East 
Delavan. 

Joseph  Rector  (1806-1869)  with  wife.  Alary  Ann  McDougal  (  1S09- 
1875),  settled  in  section  34,  but  a  few  years  later  moved  into  Walworth. 

John  Bisby  Shepard  (1803-1875)  was  a  son  of  Pelatiah  Shepard  and 
Elizabeth  Thompson,  of  Fulton  county,  New  York.  He  married  Rachel 
(1806-1872),  daughter  of  Benjamin  Willis  and  Bridget  Cole,  and  had  five 
children.  Of  these,  Sabra  Amelia  was  wife  of  Reuben  H.  Bristol,  Mary 
Selina  was  Mrs.  Edward  Colman,  and  Linus  Delavan  married  Clarissa  Zu- 
lemma,  daughter  of  Adna  Sawyer  and  Serena  Norton  Viles  (widow  of  Ben- 
jamin Home). 

Israel  Stowell  (1812-1876),  native  of  New  Hampshire,  married  Mary 
M.,  daughter  of  Truman  Jones  and  Elizabeth  Kinne.  He  came  to  the  village 
in  1838,  and  it  is  told  that  he  built  the  first  framed  house,  opened  the  first 
tavern,  and  placed  a  stagg-coach  on  the  route  between  Delavan  and  Chicago. 
A  year  before  his  death  he  married  a  second  time. 

Aaron  Hardin  Taggart  (1816-1874)  bought  land  in  section  21,  but  be- 
came one  of  the  earliest  business  men  of  Delavan.  He  married,  in  1846, 
Martha  (1826-1905),  daughter  of  Henry  Phoenix  and  Ann  Jennings.  They 
had  seven  children. 

Ira  ('..  John  (born  1825*  and  Samuel  Utter  1  1807-1898)  were  sons  of 
Abraham  Utter  and  Marinda  Beardsley,  of  Washington  county.  New  York. 
John  married  Louisa  Amanda,  daughter  of  Winsor  Lapham.  Samuel  came 
in  1843  with  his  second  wife,  Harriet  A.  Winston    (1823-1906). 

Lewis  Henry  Willis   (1817-1886).  son  of  William  Willis  and  Elizabeth 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  253 

Hoyt,  came  from  Sparta,  New  York,  to  Delavan  in  1840,  to  section  23.  His 
first  wife,  Mary  M.,  was  daughter  of  Orsamus  Bowers.  In  1872  he  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Jacob  Adriance.  of  Scipio,  New  York. 

Chauncey  D.  Woodford  (1827-1891)  was  son  of  Austin  (1785-1866) 
and  Roxana  (1793-1856)..  He  married  Sarah  Fenton  1  1828-1864),  daugh- 
ter of  Moses  Ball  and  Lucinda  Holland.  He  was  the  first  wagon-maker  and 
blacksmith  at  East  Delavan  corners. 

About  1843  Truman  Pierce,  Samuel  Utter,  Kirtland  G.  Wright  and 
Calvin  Carrington,  farmers  living  near  the  intersection  of  the  highway  be- 
tween Delavan  and  Lake  Geneva,  with  the  north  and  south  road  dividing 
section  25  from  section  26,  chose  that  point  as  one  convenient  for  a  store, 
repair  shops,  and  whatever  else  might  develop  there.  In  no  long  time  a 
school  house  and  church  followed.  The  store  has  always  had  a  good  local 
trade  and  its  business  lias  generally  been  in  good  hands.  The  other  buildings 
were  displaced  by  larger  and  better  ones,  and  a  convenient  town  hall  was 
added  to  the  group.  A  butter  factory,  in  operation  for  several  years  past, 
was  burned  in  June,  191 1.  It  has  been  rebuilt  with  hollow  cement  blocks. 
Its  monthly  receipt  of  milk  was  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
pounds,  and  its  monthly  product  of  butter  about  three  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds. 

A  postoffice  was  established  about  1872,  a  station  on  the  star-route  from 
Elkhorn  to  Harvard.  The  recent  institution  of  rural  free  delivery  service 
has  divided  the  postal  business  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  town  of  Delavan 
between  route  No.  2,  Lake  Geneva,  and  route  No.  2,  Elkhorn,  the  village 
being  served  from  the  Lake  Geneva  office.  In  the  village  are  about  a  dozen 
dwellings  and  fifty  inhabitants.  Its  always  prosperous  Baptist  church,  or- 
ganized  in  1843,  has  a  resident  pastor,  now  Rev.  William  A.  Weyrauch.  The 
town  hall  houses  a  small  public  library.  Nearly  a  mile  and  one-half  away, 
at  the  northeast  corner  of  section  36,  is  a  little  church  of  the  Latter-day 
Saints,  founded  by  a  few  persons  who  chose  not  to  follow  President  Young. 
Henry  Southwick  was  its  spiritual  leader  for  many  years.  A  mile  west  of 
this  church,  at  the  corner  of  section  26,  and  three-quarters  of  a  mile  south  of 
the  village,  is  the  small  but  sufficient  and  neatly  kept  East  Delavan  cemetery, 
where  one  may  read  on  marble  and  granite  several  names  of  the  fathers  and 
mothers  of  the  township. 

The  official  lists  of  Delavan  town  (and  city  1  an-  slightly  imperfect, 
though  not  discontinuous. 


254 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


CHAIRMEN    OF    BOARD    OF    SUPERVISORS. 


William    Ayres    Bartlett 1842 

Dr.   Henderson  Hunt 1843 

William    Phoenix 1844-5 

Charles   Holmes   Sturtevant — 1846-7 

Samuel  Jones _ 1848 

Henry  Mallorv 1849 

Asa  Congdon 1850 

Stephen  Steele  Barlow 1851 

Dr.   Norman  L.  Gaston 1852 

Aaron    Hardin   Taggart 1853 

Joseph  L.  Mott 1854 


Edward  P.  Conrick 1855-9 

Salmon  Thomas 1860-1 

James  Aram 1862-74 

Henry  George  Hollister 1875-97 

Thomas  F.  Williams . — 

1898-9,   1906-10 

Winsor  Sales  Dunbar 1900-1 

Cyrus  H.  Serl 1902 

Herman   A.   Briggs x903-5 

Bernard  Conry 1911-12 


ASSOCIATE   SUPERVISORS. 


Alexander    H.    Allyn 1877-82 

James  Aram 1850-1,  '59-61 

Charles  Stewart  Bailey 

1842,  '47,  '54 
Levi   Parsons  Bailey 

1857,  '04-5,  '73 

Henry    Barlow    1866-72 

Samuel    W.    Barlow 1853-8 

Silas  Van   Xess  Barlow 1876 

Peter  Boys 1847 

Herman    A.    Briggs 1888-91 

Hiram  Calkins 1843 

Jonathan  C.   Church 1843 

Moses  R.  Cheever 1859 

Daniel    Clark   1853 

Homer   Coleman    1864-5 

Asa  Congdon 1849 

Fred  D.  Cowles 1900-2 

James    Dilley    1852 

Lemuel   Downs 1892-7 

Winsor    Sales    Dunbar 1899 

George  W.  Farrar 1893-7 

Edward    F.    Fiedler iqti-12 


Clinton   Quincy    Fisk 1898 

James  M.  Gaskill 1861-2 

William  Hollinshead 1845,  '74"5 

Henry   George  Hollister 1866-73 

Job  J.   Hollister 1906-9 

Milton    L.    Hollister 1874 

William  S.  Howe l!~v5-'1 

Samuel  Jones 1847 

Phineas   Dudley   Kendrick_i855,  '58 

Samuel  Rees  La  Bar 1856-7 

Ebenezer  Latimer J863 

John    S.    McDougal 1879-91 

Henry  Mallorv 1846,  '63 

Hilas  Meacham 1862 

William   M.   Mereness 1003-4 

George   Passage 1844.  '46 

John   Prudames !9°5 

William  Redford 1877-8 

Cyrus    H.    Serl    1898-1002 

John  Strong 1903-4 

Ira  C.  Utter 1845 

Samuel   Utter  .1850.  '55-6.  '60,  '62 
John   M.   Walker 1883-7 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


Herbert  J.  Welcher 1906-9      William  C.  Wirikleman 1905 

lewis   D.    Williams 1911-12      Kirtland   G.    Wright 1849,  '51 

Richard   Williams 1854 


TOWN    CLERKS. 


Stephen   Steele   Barlow 1842-3 

Cyrus   Brainard    1844-5 

Hugh   Bradt 1846,  '50-2 

Charles    Smith    1847-8 

Samuel  Carver  Kelsey 1849 

Enoch  Henry  Martin  Bailey__  1853-4 

George  Frank  H.  Betts 1855 

Henry  J.   Briggs 1856 

Charles  M.  Bradt 1857-8 

James  S.  Dilley 1859 


Sardis   Brainard 1860-1 

Ebenezer  K.  Barker 1862 

Charles  E.  Griffin 1863,  '66-9 

Kinner  Newcomb  Hollister 1864 

Hiram  Terry   Sharp 1865 

Tra  Pratt  Larnard 1870-90 

A.  Harvey  Lowe 1891-7 

Henry  P.  Hare 1898-1900 

Orville    S.    Smith 1901-12 


TOWN    TREASURERS. 


Jasper  Griggs 1842-3 

Hezekiah  Wells 1844 

Alfred   Stewart 1845,  '48 

Aaron  H.  Taggart 1846 

Joseph  D.  Monell,  Jr. 1847 

William  Willard  Isham 1849 

Philetus   S.   Carver 1850 

William    Clark   1851-2 

Stephen   S.   Babcock 1853 

William  Wallace  Bradley 1854-5 

Charles    Smith    1856-7 

George   F.  H.  Betts 1858 

Edwin  W.  Phelps 1859 

Benjamin   D.   White i860 

Charles    I T.    Sanborn r86i 


Sardis    Brainard    1862 

James  F.  Latimer 1863 

Newton  McGraw 1864-6 

Henry  C.   Hunt 1867-8 

Elijah  Matteson  Sharp 1869-72 

Norman  A.   Keeler 1873 

Frank   A.    Smith 1874 

William    B.    Mnnsell 1875-6 

William    TT.    Nichols 1877-8 

Isaac   Young   Filzer 1879-80 

Dr.  George  FT.  Briggs 1881-2 

Henry    C.    Johnson 1883-97 

K'os.  S.   Smith T1S98 

Romain  M.  Calkins 1890-1004 

Wallace    C.    Austin 1905- 12 


JUSTICES   OF    THE    PEACE. 


Allen  Bennett 76-80.  '82-4 

Stephen    S.    Babcock T877-9 

Arthur  Bowers 1892-4,  '97-9 


Henry  W.  Clark 1860-62 

Or.  Daniel  B.  Devendorf 1N71 

Edward   J.    Dodd 1887 


256 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


George  Frederick  Flanders 1886-90 

Charles   E.    Griffin 1862-4 

David    B.    Harrington 1886-90 

Henry  C.  Johnson 1890-2 

Henry  C.  Kishner 1891-3 

Newton  McGraw 1854-74 

Silas   W.   Menzie 1871-82 

Wilbur  J.  Reynolds 1900-03 

Alfred  Stephens  Spooner 

1872-6,  '92-4 

Charles  Holmes  Sturtevant 

1883-7 


Abner  Van  Dyke 1879-83 

Ernest  L.  Yon  Suessmilch 1894-8 

Henry  W.  Weed 1893-5 

Richard  Williams 1859-61.  '65-8 

Thomas   F.    Williams 

1879-83.  '94-1912 

Lewis  Henry  Willis 1861-3,  '75-7 

Frank  A.  Winn 1890-2 

Philip  Stephen  Wiswell 1900 

Chauncey  D.  Woodford 

1863-75,  '87-91 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


CITY  OF  DELAVAN. 


Colonel  Phoenix,  his  brother,  and  his  cousin,  platted  their  village  and 
settled  in  it  in  1837,  and  they  had  not  long  to  wait  for  lot  buyers  and  neigh- 
bors. The  Colonel's  early  death,  and  that  of  his  brother,  about  two  years 
later,  were  most  regrettable,  for  their  character  and  practical  abilities  g.v.-e 
them  influence  and  weight;  but  these  events  did  not  arrest  progress.  The 
cousin  remained  a  few  more  years  and  left  the  county  before  the  village 
was  incorporated. 

Among  the  earlier  business  men  were  James  Aram,  W.  Wallace  Brad- 
ley, Col.  Caleb  and  Edwin  Croswell,  Nicholas  M.  Harrington.  Joseph  D. 
Monell.  Jr.,  George  Passage,  Aaron  H.  Taggart,  Thomas  Topping  and  Heze- 
kiah  Wells.  Rev.  Henry  Topping  came  in  1839  to  Darien  and  was  induced 
to  settle  at  Delavan  in  1841,  in  which  year  came  also  Dr.  Henderson  Hunt. 

No  village  can  exist  permanently  without  a  blacksmith.  In  1840  Alonzo 
McGraw  came  thus  to  confirm  the  site  of  the  coming  city.  \V.  Willard 
Isham  came  in  1845  as  a  wagonsmith,  and  with  Charles  H.  Sturtevant  as 
wheelwright  and  partner,  important  trade  was  soon  brought  l"  Delavan. 
As  the  village  and  neighboring  farm  lands  were  settled  men  came  in  from 
their  fields  and  resumed  the  mechanical  or  commercial  occupations  to  which 
they  had  been  bred  but  which  they  had  dropped  awhile.  One  intimate!}-  ac- 
quainted with  men  of  the  first  half-century  of  the  county  would  find  rnanj 
farmers  who  had  been  bred  to  village  occupations,  and  a  few  who  had  seen 
human  life  far  more  broadly 

The  grist-mill,  built  in  1839,  passed  successively,  with  continuous  im- 
provement, to  the  Croswell-.  the  Mabies   (who  rebuilt  it  in   1853),  and  to 
Amos  Phelps.     The  Delavan  flour  was  of  the  best  in  the  county  markel 
When  wheat  was  no  longer  raised  in  01  near  the  county  it  was  and  is  yel  im- 
ported by  rail  for  local  grinding. 

William  Phoenix  built  his  house  in  1837  and  made  it  serve  for  a  short 
time  as  a  hotel.  This  was  on  the  bank  of  the  outlet,  at  the  upper  end  of 
Terrace  street.  Within  two  or  three  years  he  built  again,  for  hotel  purpose 
only,  near  the  lower  end  of  Walworth  avenue,  and  sold  or  leased  the  prem 

'    (17) 


2^8  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

ises  in  1841  to  Israel  Stowell.  In  1843  Ezekiel  Tripp  took  the  house  for  a 
short  term.  He  also  sold  rights  to  make  or  use  a  patented  substitute  for 
tallow  candles  or  candlesticks,  by  which  some  of  his  customers  burned  their 
fingers  badly.  Philetus  S.  Carver  followed  him,  but,  becoming  sheriff,  he 
made  way  in  1845  for  one  Harkness,  from  Darien,  who  in  some  way  ob- 
tained a  license  to  sell  the  strong  drink  which  the  Phoenixes  had  sought  to 
keep  out  of  Delavan  forever.  Charles  H.  Sturtevant  built  his  bar-room 
fixtures  and  was  severely  censured  by  his  fellow  members  of  the  temperance 
society  for  so  aiding  and  abetting  the  introduction  of  an  abomination.  Henry 
H.  Phoenix  and  a  Mr.  Babcock  had  each  a  short  period  as  landlord. 

In  1846  Horace  Duryee,  a  shoemaker,  built  a  new  house,  long  known 
as  the  Delavan  House,  or  "white  hotel."  His  capital  was  said  to  have  been 
"a  black  sheepskin  and  a  side  of  sole-leather."  He  let  his  house  to  Ward 
Mallory,  who  kept  a  well-ordered  hotel  for  the  next  six  years.  Then  came 
Hagarnan  &  Southworth,  followed  by  Mr.  Eaton.  In  i860  Chester  W. 
Phillips  became  owner  and  landlord.  In  1863  he  extended  it  and  raised  it 
to  three  stories,  and  leased  it  to  Mr.  Hobbs,  after  whom  came  Greenleaf  W. 
Collins.  Edwin  M.  Strow  bought  the  house  in  i860  and  occupied  it  till  his 
death,  May  20,  1893.  Mrs.  Strow  continued  its  business  until  the  great  fire 
of  that  year  removed  an  old  landmark. 

Franklin  K.  Phoenix  built  a  brick  hotel,  of  three  stories,  in  1848.  His 
first  tenant  was  William  lloyt.  who  presently  made  way  for  Stowell  & 
Jones,  but  returned,  to  be  succeeded  by  Milo  Kelsey,  whose  tenure  was  soon 
ended  by  his  death.  Mrs.  Sarah  A.  Phoenix  then  conducted  the  business 
until  relieved  by  Ralph  Lathrop.  in  whose  time  the  house  fell  into  some  local 
disfavor.  It  was  closed  for  a  short  time  as  a  hotel  and  opened  as  a  private 
academy.  Dates  and,  perhaps,  names  are  wanting  within  this  and  a  later 
period  of  quickly  following  change.  Daniel  Ostrom  kept  the  house  in  1859 
and  [860,  if  not  one  or  more  years  later.  In  [865  Ward  LVfallory  bought, 
refitted,  and  occupied  it  until  1868,  when  he  sold  it  to  Elon  Andrus,  who 
came  from  Lake  Geneva.  This  proprietorship  may  have  continued  for  fifteen 
years  and  was  followed  by  Benjamin  Bassler,  Greenleaf  \V.  Collins,  Mr. 
Erchinbeck,  Mr.  Longley,  Mrs.  Strow.  and  possibly  others,  in  uncertain 
order.  About  1009  this  ancient  hostelry  was  converted  to  other  uses,  never 
again,  it  is  probable,  to  supply  solid  comfort  and  liquid  delight  to  either 
traveler  or  citizen. 

On  the  blackened  site  of  the  Delavan  House  arose  in  [894  the  Hotel 
Delavan,  built  and  equipped  in  one  of  the  styles  of  that  year  for  Wisconsin 
cities  of  the  fourth  class — thai  is.  outwardly  hisrh  and  not  unsightly  and  com- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  259 

fortable  and  convenient  in  modern  ways  within.  Clarence  W.  Bartram  built 
the  new  house  and  kept  it  four  or  five  years,  when  it  passed  to  John  B.  De- 
laney.  and  thence  severally  to  William  Bowman,  of  Racine,  Mrs.  Barrett  and 
her  sons,  and  lastly  to  William  Bowers  of  Burlington. 

The  Mabie  Brothers  came  to  Delavan  in  1850  and  bought  farm  property 
as  well  as  interests  in  the  village,  and  thereafter  wintered  their  menagerie, 
live  stock — horses  and  wild  beasts — near  the  lower  end  of  the  lake.  Thus, 
this  became  the  starting  point  of  each  season's  tour  of  the  states.  As  the 
Mabies  raised  and  bought  grain,  turned  out  good  flour  and  plenty  of  it,  and 
made  dates  for  show  performances  at  home,  the  citizens  of  the  village  and 
its  neighborhood  were  supplied  at  lowest  market  rates  w  ith  these  prime  needs 
of  Romans — "bread  and  circuses" — and  the  Caesars,  had  they  reigned  at 
Delavan.  could  not  have  done  these  things  better.  Other  men.  whose  exper- 
ience had  been  gained  in  the  service  of  the  Mabies.  or  who  were  influenced  by 
the  example  of  their  success,  set  out  from  time  to  time  with  traveling  shows, 
for  one  or  more  seasons  each.  For  twenty  years  the  city  and  the  circus  were 
associated  in  the  minds  of  severely-moral  editors  in  the  far  northern  counties, 
half  of  whom  mispelled  the  name  of  the  "wickedest  town  in  Wisconsin."  and 
none  of  whom  dared  to  offend  rich  sinners  living  north  of  Winnebago  lake. 
Delavan  circus  owners  were  reputable  and  useful  citizens,  and  their  men. 
armed  with  tent  stakes,  could  hold  their  own  against  the  midnight  assaults  of 
gangs  that  thought  no  deed  was  so  finely  heroic  as  to  "clean  out"  a  circus.  All 
that,  for  Delavan.  has  so  long  ago  passed  away  that  one  now  living  must  be 
well  past  middle  age  who  last  saw  a  Delavan  circus. 

Xicholas  M.  Harrington  may  have  been  in  [853  the  first  banker  at  Dela- 
van: but  was  not.  as  has  been  told,  the  first  in  the  county.  That  distinction. 
such  as  it  was,  belonged  to  Mr.  Richardson,  who  opened  the  Rank  of  Geneva 
in  [848.  In  his  appreciative  autobiography,  Mr.  Harrington  mentioned  with- 
out wearisome  dates  or  other  useful  details  his  various  private  and  public 
utilities.  Since  he  who  knew  the  affairs  of  this  bank,  if  bank  it  was,  from 
the  inside,  has  left  its  tale  untold,  it  can  be  inferred  here  only  that  it  was  most 
likely  useful  to  its  patrons,  and  that  it  closed  without  great  disaster  to  himself. 

Railwav  prospects  for  Delavan  brightened  in  [854  and  her  liberal  aid  in 
village  bonds  and  individual  subscriptions  made  certain  hei  earl)  connection 
with  all  that  part  of  the  world  which  really  moves.  Business  in  real  estate 
increased  at  once  in  anticipation  of  the  first  train  arrival,  and  other  businesses 
joined  the  forward  march.  The  track  layers  stopped  at  Burlington  for  the 
winter  of  1^55-6.  but  resumed  work  before  the  frost  was  out  of  the  ground, 
reaching  the  village  about  May.     For  a  few  months  Delavan  became  a  term- 


26(3  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

inal  station,  with  a  rough  shed  for  engine  shelter,  while  the  work  was  pushed 
forward,  reaching  Beloit  in  that  year.  Early  in  the  same  hopeful  year  the 
Walworth  County  Bank  was  organized,  with  William  C.  Allen  as  president 
and  William  W.  Dinsmore  as  cashier.  It  was  then,  or  a  little  later,  owned 
mostly  by  W.  Augustus  Ray  and  Henry  M.  Ray,  his  father.  In  1865  the 
First  National  Bank  grew  out  of  the  older  bank,  with  Otho  Bell  as  president 
and  \V.  Augustus  Ray  as  cashier.  Its  other  principal  incorporators  were  Will- 
iam C.  Allen,  Alanson  H.  and  D.  Bennett  Barnes,  Ira  Ford,  Sarah  P.  Kel- 
sey,  Ebenezer  Latimer.  Jeremiah  Mabie,  Lafayette  Pitkin,  Henry  M.  Ray, 
Charles  Thaddeus  Smith,  Warren  VY.  Sturtevant.  Alfred  D.  and  Salmon 
Thomas.  In  1880  this  bank  closed  and  was  succeeded  by  the  banking  house 
of  F.  Latimer  &  Company,  with  A.  Hastings  Kendrick  as  cashier.  Mr.  Lati- 
mer died  in  1910,  but  the  bank  retained  his  name  until  191 1,  when  it  became 
the  Wisconsin  State  Bank.  Its  capital  is  $30,000,  its  deposits  about  $400,000. 
Mr.  Kendrick  is  now  president  and  Charles  H.  Shulz  is  cashier. 

The  Citizens  Bank  of  Delavan  began  business  in  March,  1875,  with  Frank 
Leland  as  president  and  Charles  B.  Tallman  as  cashier.  The  leading  stock- 
holders were  Otho  Bell,  James  II.  Cam]),  George  Cotton.  John  DeWolf, 
Jamin  H.  Goodrich,  W.  Willard  Isham,  T.  Perry  James.  Henry  G.  Reichwald, 
and  Charles  S.  Teeple.  At  present  its  capital  is  $50,000,  its  deposits  about 
$600,000.  Both  these  banks  are  now  in  buildings  designed  for  their  purpose, 
handsome  and  substantial  without,  businesslike  and  suitable  within.  Both 
banks  have  passed  the  perils  of  infancy,  and  may  be  regarded  as  institutions 
— things  that  do  noi  pass  away. 

Men  of  Delavan  early  enough  saw  the  importance  to  their  village  of 
local  manufacturing,  and  good  workmen  found  no  want  of  encouragement 
even  if  their  capital  was  but  small.  Wagon  simps,  planing  mill,  foundry. 
pump-works,  lack  factory,  shoe  factory  were  among  many  undertakings 
which,  each  in  its  turn,  was  forced,  sooner  or  later,  to  yield  to  conditions 
imposed  by  the  newer  system  of  factory  production  that  has  so  effectually 
Forced  apart  the  local  manufacturer  and  his  home  customer.  Mr,  [sham  be- 
gan  in  1  N-| 5  a  shop  for  blacksmith  and  general  woodwork  which  soon  became 
a  prosperous  wagon  and  carriage  shop.  With  changing  partnerships  and 
readjustments  of  the  business  he  persevered  for  about  a  quarter  century,  and 
then    went   into   oilier   business. 

The  pump  and  windmill  works  began  in  [861,  owned  by  Trumbuil  D, 
Thomas,  followed  by  a  long  list  of  linns  and  single  owners,  the  best  remem- 
bered of  whom  were  Patrick  Gormlej  and  (  (liver  G  Stowell.  This  enterprise 
continued   for  twenty  or  thirty  vears  to  make  Delavan  known   far  and  wide 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  jl  i  I 

by  its  works.  Tlie  tack  factor)',  not  owned  by  Delavan  men,  occupied  tbe 
pump-shop  building  for  a  few  years  and  then  its  machinery  and  business  were 
taken  elsewhere. 

Men  of  Chicago  came  in  1003  with  the  Globe  Knitting  Works.  The 
late  \V.  W.  Bradley's  successors  became  managers  in  1905,  having  formed  a 
company  of  stockholders,  with  an  investment  of  $300,000.  The  works  have 
been  greatly  extended  and  improved.  Their  production  is  mostly  "sweaters" 
of  high  quality  and  in  many  styles  and  colors.  About  three  hundred  persons 
are  employed  steadily,  mostly  drawn  from  Delavan  and  its  vicinity.  The 
effect  of  such  an  enterprise  on  the  general  prosperity  of  the  city  is  noticeable. 
The  present  officers  of  the  company  are  John  J.  Phoenix,  president:  William 
B.  Tyrrell,  vice-president:  Ithel  B.  Davies,  treasurer;  William  II.  Tyrrell, 
treasurer. 

THE     PRESS. 

The  newspapers  of  Delavan  began  in  1852  with  the  Walworth  County 
Journal,  by  John  C.  Bunner,  with  help  from  open-handed  citizens.  In  1855 
the  way  was  clear  for  Joseph  Baker  and  William  M.  Doty,  with  the  Delavan 
Messenger,  and  with  liberal  help,  for  the  village  needed  and  would  have  a  local 
newspaper.  In  1857  Mr.  Baker  and  James  W.  Lawton  re-named  the  paper 
Delavan  Northron,  a  name  indicating  the  political  sentiment  of  editors  and 
patrons.  Henry  L.  Devereux,  an  old-time  printer,  bought  Mr.  Baker's  in- 
terest and  soon  sold  it  to  Mr.  Lawton.  who  changed  the  name  in  [862  to  Pela- 
van  Republican.  P..  G.  Wheeler  put  forth  the  Patriot  in  [861,  hut  it  was  soon 
merged,  name  and  all.  in  the  older  concern,  which  for  two  or  three  years 
joined  the  two  named  and  then  became  again  the  Republican.  Messrs.  \.  I). 
Wright  and  Andrew  J.  Woodbury  bought  the  office  at  Mr.  Lawton's  death. 
in  iSji.  and  a  few  months  Later  Mr.  Wright  was  sole  owner,  lie  was  an 
excellent  printer  and  competent  editor.  In  1874  he  removed  to  Rockford 
and  the  new  owners  placed  Frank  Leland  temporarily  in  editorship.  I  le 
retired  in  April.  1875.  and  George  B.  Tallman  appeared  as  editor  and  printer. 
The  owners,  then,  or  soon  thereafter,  were  Charles  B.  and  George  B.  Tall- 
man.  D  Bennetl  Barnes  and  Cyrus  Williams.  Another  change  left  the  Tail- 
mans  in  full  control. 

George  B.  Tallman's  local  editorship  had  a  half-reckless,  off-hand,  good 
humored  quality,  unmatched  elsewhere  in  the  county,  and  hi-  paper  was  very 
readable  whenever  his  press  happened  to  stand  nearh   level  and  the  ink  to  !»• 
evenly  distributed  ;  for  he  was  no  pressman,  though  lie  was  a  rapid  type-setter. 
Weekly,  throughout  the  years,  he  would  stand  upright  at  hi       a  1     without 


262  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

written  copy,  talking,  laughing,  whistling,  and  set  up  a  column  of  ''local  items" 
— crisp,  racy,  slangy — increasing  in  length  from  a  half-line  to  four  or  five 
lines. 

Wilbur  G.  Weeks,  a  better  printer  and  more  careful  editor  than  Tall- 
man,  bought  the  office  in  1881,  improved  its  equipment  and  its  business,  and 
made  the  Republican  good  property.  He  sold  it  in  1908  to  A.  S.  Hearn  of 
Dodgeville,  from  whom  it  passed  in  October,  1909,  to  Maurice  Morrissey,  with 
L.  F.  Malany  as  business  manager. 

In  1859  G.  W.  D.  Andrews,  then  on  an  informal  furlough  from  service 
in  the  regular  army,  came  to  stay  the  rising  tide  of  Republicanism  by  printing 
a  few  numbers  of  the  Walworth  County  Sovereign.  This  paper's  short  career 
was  ended  by  fire,  and  its  portly  editor  was  afterwards  arrested  as  a  deserter. 

A  boy  of  Darien,  Frank  P.  Howard,  aged  about  sixteen,  owner  of  a 
make-shift  press  and  as  much  half-worn  type  as  he  could  lift  easily,  came 
this  way  in  1898  to  publish  the  Delavan  Tribune.  The  boy  had  natural 
aptitudes  which  more  judiciously  guided  and  encouraged  might  have  made 
him  a  useful  man.  To  begin  as  master  of  a  calling  of  which  he  had  learned 
no  part  was  to  set  out  by  a  short  but  rugged  road  to  failure.  But  the  poor  boy 
had  done  something  to  make  a  second  paper  at  Delavan,  and  his  foolish  ven- 
ture led  to  something  better.     He  died  early. 

The  Delavan  Enterprise  began  in  1878  under  ownership  of  competent 
printers  and  with  vigorous  editorship,  namely,  that  of  Clarence  R.  and  Edgar 
W.  Conable.  of  an  old  county  family.  Though  a  Republican  paper,  the 
Enterprise,  in  1882.  joined  the  rebellion  against  Charles  G.  Williams,  who 
was  in  that  year  defeated  at  the  congressional  election.  Hiram  T.  Sharp,  a 
lawyer  and  a  gentleman,  became  owner  and  editor  in  1884.  He  was  not  a 
printer,  nor  had  he  been  trained  to  editorship.  He  could  only  make  the  En- 
terprise clean  and  decent,  like  himself,  and  keep  it  so.  lie  sold  it  in  1893 
to  Grant  D.  Harrington  (.son  of  an  old  and  worthy  citizen  of  Delavan).  who 
became  its  editor  for  the  next  live  years.  David  B.  Harrington,  an  uncle, 
who  was  a  printer  and  an  old-time  editor,  sometimes  contributed  to  campaign 
discussion  and  showed  younger  men  what  editorship  was  of  yore.  The  younger 
Harrington  has  since  said  that  he  can  not  "point  with  pride"  to  anything  in 
his  editorial  career.  No  becomingly  modest  man  wastes  time  in  pointing 
backward  in  his  own  rough  road  to  the  stars.  Grant  D.  Harrington  has  yet 
to  disappoint  the  rcasniiahlc  hopes  of  his  friends  in  any  of  his  undertakings 
He  was  well  equipped  for  every  duty  of  a  village  newspaper  office  and  he 
restored  the  Enterprise  to  life  and  usefulness,  made  it  truly  a  second  paper 
at  Delavan,  and  sold  it  in  [898  to  Frank  \l.  Stevens.     E.  J.  Scut  bought  it 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  _M  13 

in  1900.  but  sold  again  to  Stevens  in  1901.  In  1902  William  A.  Dean  took 
possession  and  the  next  year  William  T.  Passage,  son  of  the  pioneer  merchant, 
became  a  partner  and  in  1908  sole  owner.  Judging  from  outward  appear- 
ances, the  progress  of  the  Enterprise  since  1893  nas  been  steadily  forward. 
Both  offices  at  Delavan  are  equipped  with  power  presses  and  the  Republican 
is  linotyped. 

L.  and  Milton  A.  Brown,  father  and  son.  were  successful  horse-breeders 
and  decent  men.  but  were  not  of  the  stuff  of  which  editors  or  printers  are 
commonly  made.  They  must  have  believed  that  Mr.  Cleveland  was  about  to 
be  re-elected  to  the  presidency,  for  they  began  their  apprenticehood  very  early 
in  1888  by  publishing,  January  7th.  the  first  number  of  a  second  Walworth 
County  Democrat.  This  paper  was  edited  and  printed,  though  few  or  none 
can  now  tell  how,  for  something  like  a  year:  but  the  result  of  the  election  did 
not  encourage  further  amateur  effort  in  organ-making  In  all  this,  however, 
was  one  then  very  young  man's  opportunity,  and  the  evolution  of  a  real  editor 
began  in  the  person  of  William  T.  Passage. 

RELIGIOUS   SOCIETIES. 

Seventeen  men  and  women  formed  a  Baptist  society  September  21, 
1839.  with  Rev.  Henry  Topping  as  pastor,  and  in  1841  a  church  was  built  of 
wood,  at  cost  of  about  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  thirty-six  by  fifty 
feet  on  the  ground,  with  seats  for  two  hundred  persons.  This  was  on  a  lot 
given  by  the  Phoenix  proprietors,  and  this  desirable  site,  fronting  the  west 
side  of  the  park  is  still  occupied  by  the  society.  \  brick  church  was  built 
in  1854  with  one-third  more  floor  space  at  cost  of  four  thousand  dollars.  This 
society,  for  long  the  largest  of  its  denomination  in  the  state,  and  yet  the  lead 
ing  one  in  the  county,  built  its  third  church  in  1880,  seventy  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  feet  on  the  ground.  After  Mr.  Topping,  the  pastors  have 
been  John  H.  Dudley  1844,  Mead  Bailej  1S50,  Newell  Boughton  [853,  Albert 
Sheldon  1854.  Jeremiah  D.  Cole  1858.  John  Williams  i860.  David  Burbank 
1862.  Ethan  B.  Palmer  [864,  Joseph  1'"..  Johnson  [865,  Charles  T.  Km-  [868, 
David  E.  Halteman  1869,  Charles  A.  Hobbs  1N84.  Wiliam  R.  Yard  io<><). 
The  long  pastorates  of  Messrs  Halteman  and  1  lobbs  had  a  parallel  in  another 
church  fronting  the  same  park. 

St.  Andrew'-  parish  was  formed  by  assembling  the  somewhat  widely 
dispersed  families  of  Delavan  and  adjoining  towns  in  [851.  In  [853  a  little 
chapel  was  lmilt  at  Fourth  and  Matthew  streel  .  and  the  Rev.  Fathers  <i>n- 
way.  Francis  Prendergast  and  I'.  J.   Mallon  were  -  1     senl    for  this 


264  WALWORTH    COl.NTV,    WISCONSIN. 

pioneer  work.  About  1859  Father  George  H.  Brennan  came  as  a  resident 
priest,  followed  by  T.  A.  Smith  in  1861,  Henry  J.  Roche  1863,  Lawrence  N. 
Kenney  1864,  Jacob  Morris  1866,  Richard  Dumphy  1869,  J.  Eugene  Allen 
1878,  Michael  J.  Tanglier  1881,  Joseph  G.  Smith  1886,  John  Buckley  1909, 
Father  Allen  was  the  last  who  drove  through  sunshine,  cloud,  mud  and  un- 
beaten snow  to  minister  to  the  mission  parish  of  St.  Patrick's,  at  Elkhorn. 
While  lot  values  were  relatively  quite  low  the  parish  bought  at  Walworth 
avenue  and  Seventh  street,  and  in  1895  one  °f  me  finest  churches  in  the 
county  was  dedicated.  A  well-chosen  cemetery  lot  was  acquired  at  an  early 
opportunity,  and  many  of  the  dead  of  Elkhorn  and  other  towns  were  buried 
there.  This  ground  joins  Spring  Grove  cemetery,  with  no  barrier  between. 
The  present  valuation  of  all  the  parish  property,  which  includes  a  fine  house 
for  the  priest,  is  about  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  The  parish  is  in  ex- 
cellent condition  for  its  work. 

The  Congregational  society  dates  its  beginning  July,  1841.  with  ten 
members.  A  little  church  was  built  at  the  north  side  of  Maple  Park  in  1844. 
with  an  outlay  of  one  thousand  dollars — then  a  large  sum  for  an  unselfish 
purpose.  A  new  church,  with  brick  walls,  forty-two  by  seventv-five  feet,  was 
built  in  1856  at  cost  of  five  thousand  dollars.  This  has  since  been  extended, 
modernized  and  improved.  Rev.  Amnon  Gaston  began  his  triple  service. 
here,  at  Elkhorn.  and  at  Sugar  Creek  in  1841.  After  him  came  Frederick  H. 
Pitkin  1845.  Lucius  Foote  1847  (  1798-1887),  Joseph  Collie  1854.  William  E. 
Davidson  [896,  Sedgwick  Porter  Wilder  1898  (1847-1905),  Howard  W. 
Kellogg  1905,  Thistle  V  Williams  10,09.  Mr.  Collie's  long  service  is  note- 
worthy. 

Christ  Church  parish  was  formed  in  July.  1844,  with  Nehemiah  Barlow 
and  Hezekiah  Well-  as  wardens,  Caleb  Croswell,  B.  J.  Newberry.  Joseph 
Rector,  Dr.  Shepard  Sherwood,  Salmon  Thomas  as  vestrymen.  A  small 
house  at  the  south  side  of  the  park  answered  the  passing  need  until  1877. 
when  work  began  anew  on  the  parish  lot  at  Walworth  avenue  and  Fifth 
street.  In  [879  this  building  was  dedicated  and  ha--  since  been  extended  ami 
improved  and  a  rectory  added,  making  the  total  estate  worth  about  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars.  The  line  of  rectors  began  with  Rev.  Stephen  Mel  high 
1844,  who  wa-  called  to  Madison  in  1845  and  returned  in  184c; — the  interim 
filled  by  Rev.  Mr.  Bartlett.  Then  came  Gerrit  E.  Peters  [852,  Joseph  Adderly, 
[bseph  II.  Nichols,  Albert  Scott  Nicholson  1861.  Gardiner  M.  Skinner  [862, 
George  W.  Mean  1865,  Fortune  C.  Brown  1870.  Edward  R.  Sweetland  187(1, 
Joel  1 'lark  [879,  Charles  Holmes  1880,  Charles  L.  Mallory  [891,  lames  B. 
VTcCullough  1901,  Edward  S.  Barkdull  [902,  John  White  moo.  Mark-  11. 
Milne   IQIO. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  265 

Troy  circuit,  Methodist  Episcopal,  was  formed  in  1841  and  included 
Eagle,  Troy.  Lagrange,  Sugar  Creek.  Darien  and  Delavan.  Except  Rev. 
.Messrs.  Leonard  F.  Moulthrop  and  Henry  Whitehead,  named  in  1841,  and 
Hiram  Allen  in  1845-6,  the  workers  in  this  then  difficult  field,  for  the  first 
ten  years,  are  not  indicated  by  the  record  of  credentials  filed  at  the  office  of 
the  clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  though  there  were  probably  others  than  these 
three.  Reuben  Richardson  Wood  (1819-1906),  ordained  in  1842,  came  to 
Delavan  as  resident  pastor  in  1850,  doubtless  with  assignment  to  duty  at 
Darien.  In  1853  Enos  Stevens  and  J.  H.  Hopeton  supplied  a  short  vacancv 
filled  in  that  year  by  Elisha  Page,  after  whom  John  Tibbals  1854,  Hiram  I  1. 
Hersey  (1812-1884)  in  1856,  Thomas  White  1858,  Russell  P.  Lawton  1859, 
Cyrus  Scammon  i860,  James  B.  Cooper  1801,  A.  C.  Manwell  1803,  G.  W. 
Delamatyr  1867.  Reuben  B.  Curtis  1869.  Stephen  Smith  1870,  Edward  S. 
McChesney  1871,  Alonzo  Mansfield  Bullock  1872.  A.  C.  Higgins  1874,  Oliri 
Curtis  1875,  Henry  Faville  1876,  Edward  G.  Updike  1878,  John  Scott  Davis 
1881,  William  B.  Robinson  1883.  Samuel  C.  Thomas  (1810-1894)  in  1884, 
William  II.  Summers  1886,  Frederick  C.  Brayton  1888,  George  Veritv  1889 
(died),  Walter  1).  Cole  1890,  Jeremiah  H.  Hicks  1893,  Stephen  A.  Olin  1894, 
Richard  K.  Manaton  1898,  George  Vater  1900,  Andrew  Porter  1902.  Sidney 
A.  Sheard  1903,  George  M.  White  1904,  Rodman  W.  Bosworth  1906,  William 
Hooton  1909.  Messrs  Wood,  Faville,  and  Updike  passed  to  the  Congrega- 
tional pulpit — the  last-named  in  1880. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Dr.  Joseph  R.  Bradway  opened  a  private  school  in  1842  and  taught  until 
the  house  was  burned  in  1845.  E.  D.  Barber  continued  this  school  in  the 
Haptist  church.  A  common  school  was  opened  in  1843  in  Terrace  street.  A 
large  and  well-contoured  lot  was  soon  set  apart  for  permanent  use,  and  from 
1852  forward  the  present  public  school  house  has  been  built  by  successive  ad- 
ditions, until  it  has  become  a  large  and  sightly  building,  fully  equipped  for 
its  purpose.  It  faces  Wisconsin  street  and  the  park  and  looks  westward  to- 
ward Main  street.  A  little  house  had  been  built  at  the  lower  corner  ol"  the 
ground  and  is  yet  remembered  as  the  ''red  school  house."  The  earliest  teach- 
ers were  Milo  Kelse)  and  Enoch  II.  M.  Bailey,  as  nearly  as  can  now  be-  learned. 
After  them,  and  before  the  opening  of  the  high  school  were  Daniel  B.  Maxson, 
William  Hutchins,  and  Mr.  Baker  about  1855.  The  larger  and  better  Ordet 
of  things  began  with  Augustus  Jackman  Cheney  in  [858  and  continued  by 
Warren    D.    Parker    [861,    Thomas    Chrowder    Chamberlain    1805.    L.    S. 


266  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Sweezy  1867,  R.  W.  Lang  1869,  Melvin  Grigsby  about  1871,  Elias  Dewey 
1873  to  1887,  George  L.  Collie  1887,  H.  J.  Bowell  1889,  H.  A.  Adrian  1890, 
J.  H.  Hutchinson  1892,  Charles  W.  Rittenberg  1893,  Ithe]  B.  Davies  1903, 
Henry  A.  Melcher  1906.  There  is  some  confusion  of  dates  as  to  the  service 
of  Mr.  Grigsby  and  Mr.  Dewey.     This  school  employs  sixteen  teachers. 

PUBLIC    LIBRARY. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Delavan  was  for  sixty  years  wholly  destitute  of 
other  than  private  libraries,  though  nothing  is  told  of  them  previous  to  1899. 
In  that  year  the  Delavan  Library  and  Literary  Association  began  the  forma- 
tion of  a  public  library  for  the  use  of  which  the  trifling  fee  of  one  dollar 
yearly  was  imposed.  James  Aram,  who  died  in  1897,  bequeathed  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars  to  be  used  in  providing  a  suitable  lot  and  building  for  a  free  library 
and  to  this  added  five  thousand  dollars  as  an  endowment  fund.  This  bequest 
was  to  become  effective  at  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mrs.  Susan  C.  (  Rood)  Aram, 
which  took  place  in  1905.  She  confirmed  this  legacy  and  the  city  accepted 
it  and  assumed  the  duty  of  making  it  perpetually  operative.  Alexander  H. 
Allyn  added  five  thousand  dollars  to  the  library  fund  and  the  citizens  con- 
tributed a  like  sum.  A  most  desirable  lot  was  chosen  at  Walworth  avenue 
and  Fourth  street,  and  a  building  worthy  of  the  city  and  the  givers  of  the 
fund  was  dedicated  July  8,  1908.  Its  cost  was  twenty-two  thousand  eight 
hundred  dollars.  It  is  of  stone,  pressed  brick,  and  is  tile-roofed.  Its  situ- 
ation, just  without  the  business  district,  is  conveniently  central,  and  affords  a 
minimum  exposure  to  fires  from  adjacent  property. 

The  city's  yearly  appropriation  is  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  The  library  opened  with  two  thousand  three  hundred  volumes,  of 
which  six  hundred  and  eighty-six  were  received  from  the  library  of  1899.  At 
present  the  number  of  volumes  is  about  four  thousand.  In  its  first  year  the 
circulation  of  books  reached  about  twenty  thousand  volumes,  and  this  rate 
has  not  since  varied  materially.  The  first  and  only  president  of  the  board 
of  library  directors  is  Mr.  Allyn.  Miss  Laura  F.  Angell,  too,  has  kept  her 
post  as  librarian   from  the  opening  in  1908. 

WATER  WORKS. 

Several  springs  were  early  known  and  were  used  for  supplying  men  and 
beasts  with  clear,  cool  water.  In  1892  it  was  found  practicable  to  improve 
them  and  make  them  available  for  the  whole  city's  use.  Pumps,  engine,  tank 
and  distributing  main'-  were  supplied,  municipal  bonds  to  the  amount  of  forty 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,     WISCONSIN.  2&J 

thousand  dollars  being  issued  for  this  purpose.  The  source  of  this  water 
seems  exhaustless  and  its  wholesome  quality  has  been  tested  by  generations 
of  men. 

FIRE  DEPARTMENT. 

The  old  fire  company  at  once  prepared  itself  for  highest  efficiency.  At 
present  there  are  two  hose  companies  and  two  hook  and  ladder  companies,  all 
well  equipped  and  trained  for  their  work.  The  several  chiefs  of  the  tire  de- 
partment have  been  James  Davidson  1894,  Andrew  J.  Pramer  1895,  Frank 
M.  Stevens  1897,  William  T.  Passage  1899.  The  first  officers  under  the  newer 
order  w  ere  D.  Bennett  Barnes,  foreman,  with  A.  W.  Pierce  and  George  Fred 
Heminway  as  assistants;  David  T.  Gifford,  engineer,  with  Newton  O. 
Francisco  as  assistant ;  Henry  Gormley,  hose  captain,  with  George  H.  Sturte- 
vant  and  W.  H.  Decker  as  assistants;  Charles  J.  Walton,  secretarv;  Levi  J. 
Xichols,  treasurer.  A  fire  company  must  have  existed  as  long  ago  as  1861, 
for  the  late  John  Baptist  Bossi  (1831-1911)  was  for  thirty-three  years  its 
treasurer. 

DELAVAN    GUARDS. 

Sixty-one  young  men  were  organized  April  26,  1880,  as  the  Delavan 
Guards,  and  the  company  was  assigned  to  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin National  Guard,  under  Col.  William  B.  Britton.  of  Janesville.  Its  first 
officers  were  Fred  B.  Goodrich  captain,  Charles  T.  Isham  first  lieutenant. 
Menson  Yedder  second  lieutenant.  The  next  captain  was  Horace  1..  Clark, 
and  the  third  and  last  was  Richard  J.  Wilson.  Governor  Rusk  called  this, 
with  several  other  companies,  into  service  at  Milwaukee,  in  1886,  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  state  when  these  were  threatened  by  the 
rioters  of  that  year.  The  duty  assigned  to  the  company  was  thai  of  guarding 
railway  and  manufacturers'  property  against  lawless  attack.  The  company's 
prompt  obedience  to  call  and  soldierly  conduct  on  duty  were  duly  recognized 
at  Madison,  Milwaukee,  and  at  home.  Since  1889  no  report  has  been  sent  to 
the  adjutant-general,  and  at  or  nearly  that  date  the  company  must  have  !>een 
dissolved. 

CITIFS  OF  THE  HI    \l>. 

The  growth  of  the  village  soon  overtook  and  surrounded  it-  first  burying 
place,  near  the  north  end  of  Third  street.  Here  wvw  buried  the  bodies  of 
Colonel  Phoenix  and  of  his  brother  and  brother's  wife,  and  one  may  read 
there  a  few  other  nine  familiar  names,  though  most  of  the  bodies  have  been 
removed.      It  is  not  here  known  when  Spring  Grov      1    netery  was  laid  out, 


268  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

but  it  was  not  long  before  or  after  i860.  The  place  chosen  is  on  high  ground, 
naturally  separated  by  a  narrow  valley  from  the  homes  of  the  living,  and  one 
side  overlooks  the  spread  of  waters  locally  called  Lake  Como.  One  may  find 
there  a  few  graves  of  persons  who  had  lived  at  Darien,  Elkhorn,  Richmond. 
Sugar  Creek,  and  Walworth;  for  this  was  for  long  a  finer  burial  ground  than 
any  in  adjacent  towns.  Its  contour  and  its  readily  drained  soil  has  made  it 
practicable  to  build  several  family  vaults.  A  mausoleum  was  built  at  the 
gateway  in  1911-12,  containing  one  hundred  and  fifty  crypts.  Its  materials 
are  Bedford  stone,  marble,  cement,  and  steel,  and  these  so  designed  and 
wrought  as  to  make  the  structure  likely  to  defy  the  tooth  of  time  for  millen- 
niads  to  come.    The  cost  was  about  forty  thousand  dollars. 

By  191 1  the  conviction  at  Delavan  was  that  she  had  outgrown  the  me- 
diaeval passenger  house  at  the  railway  station,  and  appeal  to  the  state's  rail- 
wav  commission  was  so  far  effective  that  in  the  winter  of  191 1 -12  a  new 
house  was  built,  across  the  track  from  the  old  one,  with  long  and  broad 
platforms  of  cement,  and  in  most  ways  worthier  of  Delavan  and  more  cred- 
itable to  the  railway  management.  It  is  not  imposing,  but  it  is  convenient, 
comfortable,  and  clean,  and  less  a  cave  of  gloom  than  the  old  building.  The 
street  approaches  are  macadamized. 

As  at  first  platted  the  village  was  a  small  quadrangle  east  of  the  creek,  to 
which  Walworth  avenue  descends  not  too  abruptly.  Village  growth  was 
limited  northwardly  by  the  valley  of  the  creek  and  the  high-banked  shore  of 
Como,  and  hence  began  eastward  and  southward,  on  a  broad  and  easily 
drained  area.  Then  it  crossed  the  valley,  which  at  the  avenue  is  not  very 
wide,  to  the  more  quickly-rising  westward  ascent,  at  the  top  of  which  a  few 
pleasant  suburban  blocks  lie  in  front  of  the  School  for  the  Deaf,  which  looks 
southward.  Further  growth  carried  the  city  eastward  on  the  Elkhorn  road 
and  southward  across  the  railway  tracks.  Between  east  and  smith  seems  the 
likeliest  direction   for   further  expansion. 

It  has  not  been  judged  needful  to  mention  specifically  the  various  so- 
cieties for  the  Furtherance  of  religion,  morality,  and  culture  of  the  liner  arts, 
and  the  many  affiliated  societies;  nor  to  describe  parks,  public  halls.  Masonic 
temple,  and  many  another  evidence  of  public  spirit  and  enlightened  taste.  All 
these  and  more  in  coming  time  may  be  presumed  from  even  such  inadequate 
sketch  as  is  here  made  of  a  community  possessed  oi  the  sinew--  ol  action  and 
animated  by  the  forward  spirit  id"  the  ages,  past,  present,  and  to  come. 
Delavan  will  at  some  time  have  its  own  history,  compiled  by  one  or  more  of 
its  well  trusted  citizens  and  in  just  proportion  from  the  invaluable  personal 
knowledge  of  survivors  of  the  sub-pioneer  period. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


269 


The  village  having  been  incorporated  in  1855  an  election  of  village 
officers,  April  29,  1856.  resulted  in  choice  of  Leonard  E.  Downie  as  president, 
William  C.  Allen,  James  Aram.  YY.  Willard  Isham,  Edmund  F.  Mabie, 
Joseph  Monell,  Jr.,  and  Trumbull  D.  Thomas  as  trustees,  James  Lewis  clerk, 
Xewton  McGraw  treasurer.  Nicholas  M.  Harrington  and  Ebenezer  I^atimer 
assessors,  Nicholas  Thome  marshal.  From  causes  now  not  assignable  the 
official  lists  of  village  and  city,  as  shown  here,  are  slightly  defective.  From 
known  causes  they  are  liable  to  be  found  slightly  inaccurate.  They  have  been 
derived  from  the  older  county  history,  from  newspaper  files  at  Delavan  and 
Elkhorn  and  from  records  in  the  county  clerk's  office. 

VILLAGE    MEMBERS   OF   COUNTY    BOARD. 


Ebenezer  Latimer 

1870.  '78-9,  '82,  '86-8,  90,  '93 

Xewton   McGraw 1871-2 

George  Cotton l&73>  '75-77 

Elisha  Matteson  Sharp i§74 

James  Aram 1880-1 

Alexander   Hamilton  Allyn 1883-4 


Charles   H.   Topping 1885 

Stepben   Sly   Babcock 1889 

Taylor  L.  Flanders , 1891 

Ansel  Hastings  Kendrick 1892 

William  Avery  Cochrane 1894 

Jamin  II.  Goodrich ^95 

Arthur    Mowers 1896 


CITY  MEMBERS  OF  COUNTY  BOARD. 


FIRST    WARD. 

Edward  F.  Welch 1897 

Perry   Rockwell  Jackson 1898-9 

1  harles   W.    Irish 1900-05 

Daniel  Edwin  La  Bar 1906 

Herman  A.  Briggs 1907-8 

James  E.   Dinsmore_j 1909-10 

Fred   L.   Rogers 1911 


Fred  I).  Cowles dm-' 

SECOND   WARD. 

Arthur  Bowers 1897-1904 

William  il.  Stewart [905-7, '10-12 

Ambrose  B.  Hare i9oN<iw 

1  II  [RD    WARD 

Alexander  Hamilton  Allyn-1897-1912 


PRESIDENTS   OF    rill-;    VILLAGE. 


Leonard    E.    Downie 1856 

Alanson   Hamilton   Barnes 1857 

George  Cotton i<x5^ 

Chauncey  Betts 1859,  '64 

James   Aram   1860/69 

Stephen  Sly  Babcock  /iSf,  1-2.  '66,  '-2 


Ebenezei    Latimer [863, '69-71 

(harles   Holmes   Sturtevant 1865 

1  harles   E.  <  Iriffin [867 

Alphonso  ' ..  Kellam 1868 

Newton    Mx<  .raw [873 

William    Willard    Isham 1X74 


270  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Orlando  Crosby 1875,  '78      Nathaniel  Wing  Hoag 1882,  '84-5 

Dr.  James  B.  Heminway,  Ansel  Hastings  Kendrick 1891-3 

1876-7,  '80,  '83,  '87      William  Avery  Cochrane 1894 

Dr.  Friedr.  Ludw.  Von  Suessmilch,  Jamin  H.  Goodrich 1895 

1879,  '87-9      Capt.  Albert  E.  Smith 1896 

Henry  George  Hollister 1881,  '86 

MAYORS   OF   THE    CITY. 

Edward  F.  Williams  elected 1897      Ambrose  E    Hare 1904 

Alexander  H.   Allyn 1898      Newton  O.  Francisco 1906 

Albert  F.  Smith 1899      Daniel  Edwin  LaBar, 

1908,  1910,  1912 

Until   1902  mayors  were  elected  for  one  year;  since  that  date  for  two 
years.     The  village  became  a  city  in  1897  by  a  general  statute. 

VILLAGE   CLERKS. 


James  Lewis 1856 

Joseph  Baker 1857 

J.    P..    Webb 1858 

P.    II.  Conklin J859 

Charles  E.   Griffin 1862 

Richard  M.  Williams 1865-75 

Fred   E.    Latimer 1876 


Ansel   Hastings  Kendrick 1877-83 

Edward  F.  Williams 1884-5 

Burt  Webster 1886-7 

A.  Harvey  Lowe 1888-9 

Hobart  W.  Sturtevant 1893-4 

Charles  J.    Sumner ^895 

William    T.    Passage 1896 


Record  wanting  for  i860,  1861,  1863,  1864,  1890-92. 


CITY  CLERKS. 


Warren  D.  Hollister 1897 

Grant   Dean   Harrington 1898-9 

Kenneth   L.    Hollister 1900,  '06-9 


Ubert  S.  Parish 1903-4 

Ray  Powers 1910-11 


There  is  here  some  uncertainty  as  to  1901,  1902.  1905.     In  1899  Frank 
M    Stevens  was  acting  clerk. 


VILLAGE    TREASURERS. 


Newton  McGraw 1856-7  '64-6     Edwin  W.  Phelps 1859 

GeorgeM.Hew.es 1858      Benjamin   D.   White i860 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  2J 1 

Harry  C.  Johnson 1861,   '83-96      Elisha  Matteson  Sharp 1869-72 

Sardis  Brainard 1862      Frank  A.  Smith 1874 

Isaac  Young  Fitzer 1879-80      William  B.  Munsell 1875-6 

Dr.  George  H.  Briggs 1881-2      William  H.  Nichols __i877-8 

Edward   H.   Chandler 1863      Charles   W.    Holmes 1888 

Henry   C.    Hunt 1867-8 

Except  for  Mr.  Holmes's  term,  in  1888,  Harry  C.  Johnson  will  have  been 
treasurer  for  village  and  city  from  1883  to  1914.  As  a  citizen  of  Delavan 
remarked.  '"There  is  no  use  in  anybody's  tryin  to  run  agin  him.'*  The  name 
of  the  treasurer  for  1873  is  not  found. 

A  postoffice  was  established  in  1837.  at  first  to  receive  semi-weekly  mails 
from  Racine.  It  is  now  an  office  of  the  second  class,  with  city  carriers,  and 
having  five  dependent  free  delivery  rural  routes.  Postmasters:  William 
Phoenix  1837.  Cyrus  Brainard  1845,  William  C.  Allen  1846,  Cyrus  Brainard 
1847.  Dr.  Norman  L.  Gaston  1849,  Nicholas  M.  Harrington  1853,  George 
Cotton  1854.  James  H.  Mansfield  1854  (at  first  as  substitute  for  Mr.  Cot- 
ton), Charles  Smith  1861.  Martin  Mulville  1870,  Henry  C.  Hunt  1886, 
Hiram  Terry  Sharp  1890,  John  Passage  1894,  Mrs.  Adele  E.  Barnes  1898, 
Edward  Morrissey  1906.  Mr.  Mulville.  as  a  soldier  of  the  Tenth  Infantry, 
lost  his  left  arm  at  Chickamauga.  Mr.  Hunt  (called  Captain  Hunt  from  hav- 
ing been  master  of  a  steamer  on  Delavan  lake)  lost  his  left  leg  at  Peachtree 
Creek,  as  a  soldier  of  the  Twenty-second  Infantry.  Mr.  Passage  served  in  a 
Californian  cavalry  regiment,  but  the  state  census  report  of  1895  shows  him 
a  second  lieutenant  of  Second  Massachusetts  Infantry.  Both  statements  may 
be  true. 

POPULATION  OF  THE  VILLAGE  AND  CITY. 

i860,  1.543:  1870.  1,688;  1880,  1,798:  1890.  2,038:  1900,  2,244;  1910, 
2,450.  Bv  wards,  in  1910:  First  ward.  778;  second  ward.  756:  third  ward, 
916. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


TOWN    OF   EAST  TROY. 


The  town  of  Troy,  as  established  in  1838,  included  two  government 
townships.  It  was  divided  March  21,  1843,  an(l  lts  eastern  half,  town  4 
north,  range  18  east,  became  East  Troy.  The  town  of  Mukwonago  lies  next 
north  and  the  town  of  Waterford  is  next  east.  The  slightly  uneven  surface 
of  this  town  is  generally  about  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  above  sea- 
level.  Honey  creek  comes  into  East  Troy  at  section  18,  crosses  sections  29, 
28,  21,  22,  23,  24,  leaves  the  county  to  return  to  the  southeast  corner  of  sec- 
tion 36,  and  drains  the  eastern  part  of  Spring  Prairie.  A  branch  comes  nut 
of  section  5  of  Spring  Prairie,  winds  across  sections  32,  33,  28,  27,  26  and 
ends  its  course  in  section  2^.  Potter's  lake,  sections  to,  11,  with  connected 
ponds  in  sections  13,  14,  discharge  their  little  surplus  into  Honey  creek  at 
section  24. 

The  group  of  lakes  now  named  Beulah  lies  in  sections  4.  5,  8.  <).  16,  17.  18. 
The  outlet  of  these  lakes  finds  its  way  through  Mukwonago  to  Fox  river. 
Lake  Beulah  station,  Wisconsin  Central  Railway,  in  section  12.  is  a  bit  more 
than  three  miles  from  the  namesake  lakes,  eighty-five  miles  from  Chicago, 
and  thirty-live  miles  (by  rail)  from  Milwaukee.  These  lakes  have  long  been 
known  to  local  campers,  boaters,  fishers,  and  swimmers, — the  latter  favored 
by  the  irregular  shore  lines.  At  Hately's  Hay  (or  Brooks  Cove)  on  the  upper 
lake,  in  section  17,  the  bottom  drops  away  rapidly  to  the  depth  of  sixty- 
seven  feet  within  a  lew  rods  of  shore,  and  for  more  than  a  quarter-mile 
toward  the  Opposite  shore  the  water  is  sixty  or  more  feet  deep.  At  other 
points  on  the  lower  lakes  bottom  is  found  at  forty  to  fifty-four  feet  depth.  A 
considerable  part  of  the  whole  area,  however,  is  but  ten  feet  deep.  The  little 
companion  lake,  named  Ainu  or  East  Troy,  about  a  half-mile  eastward,  in 
section  id.  is  lint  scant  seventeen  feet  deep.  A  long,  irregular  island  of 
about  thirty-five  acres  in  area  is  owned  and  lias  been  improved  and  supplied 
with  convenient  buildings  by  the  1  Tnivcrsity  of  St.  Louis.  About  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  priests  and  students,  escaping  tin-  discomforts  of  the  city,  find 
here  a  quiet  and  healthful  summer  vacation.  There  are  also  other  non-resi- 
dent owners  of  lakeside  property. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  2J$ 

The  land  area  of  the  town  is  20,995  acres,  the  village  not  included.  The 
valuation  in  1910  was  $1,590,700 — average  value  $75.7(1  per  acre.  The  crop 
acreage  for  1910  was:  Barley.  -?jj  ;  corn.  3,279;  ha\  field.  [,802;  oats,  2,386; 
potatoes.  109:  rye.  214;  wheat.  94.  The  assessed  valuation  of  town  and  vil- 
lage was  4.77  per  cent,  of  the  valuation  for  the  whole  county.  The  federal 
census  from  [850  to  1900  inclusive  was.  taken  for  town  and  village  together: 
1850.  [,318;  i860,  1.717:  E870,  1.431:  [880,  1.407:  [890,  [,406;  [900, 
1,513.      In  1910  the  poppulation  of  the  town  alone  was  925. 

FIRST  SETTLERS. 

The  tirst  actual  settler  in  East  Troy,  Mr.  Roberts,  had  sold  a  recently 
made  claim  in  Troy  when  he  came,  in  the  spring  of  1836,  to  the  north  bank 
of  Honey  creek,  in  section  29.  near  the  site  of  the  present  village,  and  was 
soon  joined  by  Asa  Wood.  They  built  a  cabin  and  worked  about  a  year 
to  assemble  materials  for  a  saw-mill.  Then  Jacob  Burgit  came  that  way. 
bought  their  rights,  and  built  the  null,  in  another  year  he  began  to  produce 
mill-stuff  for  framed  houses  in  the  village  and  elsewhere.  Mr.  Blood  passed 
over  to  the  town  of  Sugar  (reek,  and  Mr.  Roberts  passed  from  the  annals 
of  the  town  and  the  county.  In  that  first  year  of  East  Troy  came  also 
Cyrus  Cass  to  section  2  1 .  Daniel  1'.  Griffin  to  section  20,  Jacob  Haller  to 
section  35.  Allen  Harrington  to  section  21.  Lyman  llill  to  section  3.  Austin 
Mc(  racken  to  the  village  site  1  and  in  1839  was  licensed  to  keep  a  tavern), 
Oliver  Rathburn  to  section  2.  The  next  year  brought  Gorham  Hunker. 
Jacob  Burgit.  Dr.  William  M.  Gorham,  Gaylord  Graves,  Benjamin  and  Elias 
H.  Jennings,  John  A.  Larkin,  Henry  Powers,  Dr  James  Tripp,  lames  W. 
Vail,  William  Weed  and  Benjamin  Whitcomb. 

Not  all  who  came  in  the  first  few  years  remained  long  enough  to  leave 
distincl  trace  in  record  or  clear  impression  in  memory.  Lucius  Mien,  the 
I  "liatin  brother-.  Stephen  field.  Wilder  M .  Howard,  Martin  Pollard  and  fohn 
F.  I'otter  were  among  the  men  of  1838;  Seth  Beckwith  and  S.  Buel  Edwards 
were  of  those  of  [839.  Among  notable  arrivals  were  those  of  Dr,  Daniel 
Allen.  Capt.  George  Fox  and  Sewall  Smith.  Among  the  departures  were 
that  of  Mary  A  1  Spoor),  wife  of  Lucius  Mien.  November  is.  1838,  for 
a  better  world;  and  that  of  Doctor  Tripp  for  his  new  village  of  Whitewater. 
He  built  a  saw-mill   in    [838  at   the   Beulah  outlet,  and   soon    found   finer-. 

Patentees,  not  above  named,  of  land  within  the  town  were:  Thomas 
Albiston,  Robert    Uigier,  lames  w.  Bartholf,  limn    Bear,    Alexander  Brush 

fi8) 


274  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Beardsley,  Nelson  Beckwith,  John  Beers,  Harvey  Birchard,  Hiram  Brewster, 
Homer  and  Seymour  Brooks.  William  Brownley,  L.  Warren  Burgess,  John 
Cameron,  John  Chadwick,  Sherod  Chapman,  Isaac  Drake,  Joseph  H.  and 
William  P.  Edwards.  Chauncey  Eggleston,  Henry  Moore  Filley,  James  and 
John  Fraser,  Jacob  Funk,  Joseph  Gillard,  John  Hardy,  William  Haynes, 
Jeremiah  Haynes  Heath,  Simon  Heath,  Seth  Williams  Higgins.  John 
Hollenbeck,  Elliott  Hulbert,  Isom  Ingalls,  John  P.  Johnson,  James  Keeler, 
Erastus  M.  Kellogg,  Robert  Keyes,  Ignatz  Kuenzle,  Frederick  Kyburz, 
Charles  Levanway.  Patrick  McGee,  Darius  J.  McPherson,  James  B.  Martin, 
Urban  D.  Meacham,  Warren  D.  Meeker,  Joseph  Stephen  Morey,  Benjamin 
Newcomb,  Philip  Wheeler  Nichols,  Elijah  Norton,  Michael  O'Regan,  William 
Perry,  Albert  L.  Pierce,  John  Randall.  George  Alex'r  Ray.  William  Richard- 
son, Burrill  Rood.  John  Schwartz.  Israel  Rufus  Scott,  George  Smith,  John 
Syng  Spoor,  John  Sprague,  Charles  Taylor,  Robert  Black  Tedford,  Daniel 
Thompson,  Gordon  Manwaring  Vinal,  David  Whiteman,  Jonah  Wicker. 
Ambrose  Wilkes.  John  Bernhardt   Wilmer,   Erastus  Benjamin   Wright. 

Besides  these  the  census  of  1842  names,  as  heads  of  families:  Brooks 
Bowman,  Albert  Breens,  William  Charm.  Stillman  Dewey,  Hersey  Estes, 
Delanson  and  Reuben  Griffin,  Lyman  Harvey,  Robert  Hotchkiss,  Roderick 
Kellogg,  Samuel  Kyburz,  James  S.  Marcy,  William  Mead,  Orrin  Moffatt, 
Hiram  Perry,  Stillman  Pollard,  William  Porter,  Sarah  Rose.  Abel  Sperry. 
Sylvanus  Spoor,  William  Trumbull.  Isaac  Webber,  Abel  Ward  Wright. 

Robert  Augier  (1785-1862)  bad  wife  Abigail  (1786-1802)  and  left 
descendants  of  his  own  and  other  names. 

Seth  Beckwith  came  early,  sold  in  1842  to  Abel  Sperry,  and  passed 
northward.      Nol  a  near  relative  of  Nelson. 

|obn  Beers  1  [803-1885),  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  came  to  section  24 
with  wife,  Mary  ("rites  |  [820-1892). 

Homer  and  Seymour  Brooks  were  sons  of  David  and  wife  Catharine 
Simpson,  of  Ovid,  Xew  York.  Homer,  born  in  [819.  is  yet  living  in  section 
17.  near  the  Beulah  lake-group.  In  1840  he  married  Almira,  daughter  of 
Jacob  Burgit  and  Mary  Gardner.  Seymour  Brooks  1  [82]  18112)  married 
Sus-in  i  [826-1898),  daughter  of  Peter  Bulman.  His  farm  was  in  section  ;. 
near  the  foot  of  the  lakes.  Both  oi  these  men  were  carlv  and  active  in  the  im- 
provemenl  of  live  stock,  anil  their  work  praised  them. 

Cyrus  Cass  1  [812-92)  married  Elizabeth  B.  Thomas  1  1825  [899).  His 
farm,  an  almost  lordlv  domain,  lay  both  sides  of  Honey  creek,  sections  21,  28. 
(  >f  his  children,  Clarence  W.  died  in  service  in  the  Third  Cavalry,  and  Edwin 
I  nomas  is  a  lawver  at  Whitewater. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  2/5 

Joseph  H.  Edwards  (1781-1853)  and  wife,  Abigail  Buel  (1 790-1867), 
came  about  1840  to  section  15.  Their  son,  Simon  Buel  ( 1815-1893),  was 
born  in  Broome  county.  New  York;  married,  first,  Elizabeth  Ann  (1818- 
1881),  daughter  of  Isaac  I".  Wheeler,  in  1838:  moved  to  Whitewater  in 
1878.  where  he  married  again.  He  was  a  good  tanner  and  a  worker  in 
and  for  the  Count)  Agricultural  Society. 

Chauncey  Eggleston  (1795-1848)  was  born  in  Connecticut.  His  wife, 
Chloe.  was  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  Coe.  Their  daughter,  Charlotte  Coe 
Eggleston.  was  born  in  1827  and  died  in  1897. 

Capt.  George  Fox  (  1 701- 1864)  was  a  descendant  of  that  John  Fox 
whose  tremendous  work,  in  two  or  three  folio  volumes,  entitled  "Acts  and 
Monuments  of  the  Church."  by  powerful  condensation  became  "Fox's  Book 
of  Martyrs."  and  was  well  read  by  eight  or  ten  generations  of  pious  men  and 
women.  Two  daughters  of  Captain  Fox  were  each  in  succession  wife  of 
Hon.  John  F.  Potter. 

James  Fraser  (  1787- 1876)  and  wife  Elizabeth  (1782-1867)  came  from 
one  of  the  Orkneys,  and  bought  land  in  section  26.  Of  their  children, 
Alexander.  Charles  and  John  were  long  active  in  town  affairs,  and  Margaret 
became  Mrs.  Orlando  Jennings. 

Doctor  Gorham  came  from  Milwaukee,  lived  a  few  years  at  East  Troy, 
and  returned  to  the  city. 

Jacob  Haller  I  1809-1894),  a  native  of  canton  of  Aargau.  Switzerland, 
came  to  America  in  1833.  and  to  section  35  of  this  town  in  1838.  His  wife 
was  Elizabeth  I-"..  1  [813-1894).      A  daughter  was  wife  of  Hon.  Frank  Fraser. 

Jeremiah  Haynes  Heath,  with  Simon  Heath,  came  to  section  36.  He 
married  Hannah  F    McDuffie  in  [842. 

Wilder  Mack  Howard  (1821-1910),  son  of  Joseph  and  Rosanna,  was 
born  at  Andover,  Vermont.  He  was  apprenticed  to  John  A.  Larkin,  a  shoe- 
maker and  an  early  settler.  His  first  wife.  Electa  L.,  daughter  of  Timothy 
and  Sally  Howard,  died  in  1878.  I  lis  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  fountain. 
He  was  a  soldier  of  Company  F.  First  Heavy  Artillery 

Rev.  Erastus  Martin  Kellogg  (born  1815),  a  descendant  in  lit'tli  gen- 
eration from  Deacon  Samuel  Kellogg  ami  Sarah  Merrill,  was  apparently  a 
non-resident  investor.  Roderick,  hi-  father'-  third  cousin,  was  horn  in 
170''  ami  married  Sally  Taylor.  Of  two  sons  ami  -i\  daughters,  none  are 
known  to  have  remained  in  the  county. 

Frederick  Kyburz  (1809-1892)  came  from  Switzerland.  Hi-  wife. 
Louisa  (born  1822).  was  bom  in  Hanover.  Daniel  Kyburz,  born  in  1777 
and  living  in  i860,  was  probably  his  father  and  Mr-.  Jacob  Haller  as  prob- 
ably hi-  sister.      This  family  lived  in  section   14. 


276 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Martin  Pollard  (  1813-1895),  son  of  Joseph  Pollard  and  Martha  Martin. 
married  July  9,  1840,  Rachel  (1810-1895).  daughter  of  William  Powers 
and  Susan  Cooper,  and  settled  in  section  2.  Rachel  died  March  29th  and 
Martin  followed  April  1st.  One  funeral  service  committed  them  to  the  burial 
ground  at  Mukwonago. 

The  early  settlers  included  several  of  the  most  capable  and  successful 
farmers  and  stock  breeders  of  the  county  and  the  movement  for  organizing 
a  county  agricultural  society  began  with  men  of  East  Troy  and  their  relatives 
and  neighbors  of  Troy.  While  the  trade  with  Milwaukee  was  overland  and 
sometimes  difficult  and  tedious,  the  town's  position  gave  an  advantage,  by 
a  few  blessed  miles,  over  men  of  other  towns.  When  placed  between  two 
railway  lines,  with  little  direct  advantage  from  either,  the  East  Trojans  sat 
not  on  their  plow-beams  sadly,  but  made  the  best  of  their  not  wholly  unhappy 
situation  until  the  Wisconsin  Central  Railway  Company  made  a  station  at 
Beulah  and  gave  them  a  direct  way  to  Chicago.  This  line  passes  from  Honey 
Creek  by  sections  25,  24,  13,  12,  1,  2,  leaving  the  town  near  Mukwonago, 
about  six  miles  of  its  tracks  within  the  town  of  East  Troy.  The  electric 
line  from  Milwaukee  passes  by  way  of  Mukwonago  across  sections  2,  3.  10. 
9,  16,  20  to  East  Troy  village. 

The  town  records  have  been  quite  generally  in  competent  hands  and  are 
accessible. 

CHAIRMEN     OF    TOWN     BOARD. 


( laylord   ( rraves 1843 

Sewall  Smith 1844 

Gorham  Bunker 1845.   53~4 

Austin  Carver 1846,  '56-7 

(laylord   Craves 1847,    '41) 

Joel   Pound 1848 

Henry  B.  Clark 1850-2,  '58 

John  Fox  Totter 1855 

William  Burgit 1859-63,  '"j^, 

•77-80,  '82 
Edwin    Maker   1864 


Mender  ()    Babcock  --1865-6, 

"68-9,  '72 

Dr.   Caleb  Sly   Blanchard 1867 

Joseph  W.  Church 1870 

Alexander  Kraser 1871.  '73-4,  '76 

I  larold  I  I.  Rogers _  1881,  '95 

Augusl  Wilmer 1883-8 

Frank  L.  Fraser 1889-94,  '96-7 

Lawrence    Clanc)       1898-9 

Charles    \.   Mulaney 1900-6 

William  Clancy 1907-9 

William  1  leers 191 0-12 


ASSOCIATE   SUPERVISORS. 


1  leni  \     \dams 1863 

I  <lw  in  Baker 1801-2 


James  W.  Bartholf 1846.  '48 

Jacob  C.  Bayer   1896 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN, 


277 


William  Beers 1808-9 

Darius  G.  Billings ^57 

Homer  Brooks 1874.  '82 

James  S.  Brooks 1898-9,  1905-6 

Seymour   Brooks 1871 

George  Bunker 1852 

Gorham  Bunker 1843-4,  '57-8 

William  Burgit 1849.  '53>    55 

Christopher  Page  Farley  Chafin 
1875-8.  -8o-i.  '83-5 

Frank'  G.   Chafin 1886 

John  P.  Chafin [887-S 

Luther  Chamberlain 1866 

Joseph  W.  Church 1871 

.A  T atthew  Coleman 1 849 

James  M.  Crosswaite 19 10-12 

Adam  C.  Deist 1892-5 

Stillman  Dewey 1843 

Henry   Dickerman 1897 

Alexander  Dowman 1865 

Loren  J.  Fdwards 1851. 

Simon  Buel  Fdwards 1846-7.  "54 

Stephen  Field 1843 

Stephen  I-'.  Field 1860-2 

Alexander  Fraser 1863.  '68-70 

Charles  Fraser 1 903 

Frank  I,.  Fraser 1886 

John    Fraser 1859 

Jacob  Funk 1850 

David    Holmes 181  k  i 

Johannes  M.  Hunter 1877-8] 


Washington  Sidney  Keats 1891 

Jared  L.  Knapp 1855.  '64 

Stephen  Knapp 1847 

Louis  H.  Krosch 1898-1902 

William  Mcintosh 1852-4,  '~2 

Urban  Duncan  Meacham 1845 

Charles  S.  Miller__  1875-6.  '83-5.  "87 

Benjamin  F.  Mitchell 1908-9 

Charles  A.  Mulanev 1886-7 

John    Xott 1889.    '94 

Daniel    W.    Patterson 1872 

Wright  Patterson 1856 

Drake  II.  Phillips __iNo- 

Robert  Porter 1890,  '92-3 

Joel  Pound 1847 

Nathan  P.  Randall 1851 

George  Alexander  Ray 1850 

Arthur    Rogers 1905-6 

Charles  Schader 1 904 

Henry  Shields 1 890-1.  '95 

James  M.  Stillwell 1859 

Enos  H.  Stone i860  7 

John  W.  Stoney_. 1868-70 

Frank  A.  Swoboda 1910-12 

Hiram    A.    Taylor 1882 

Emery  Thayer 1845 

Jesse  Tombleson 1858.  '65 

David  Van  Zandt 1851 

FJmer  Watrous 190 1-2 

John  Weldon 1903-4 

Abel  Ward  Wright [844 


TOWN  CLERKS. 


Sew  all   Smith T843-  '45 

A  lender  O.   Babcock 1844. 

•46.  '48,    60 

Edward  II.  Ball 1847 

Wilder  Mack  Howard 1849,  '55 


George  II.  Smith     1856 

Gregon  Bentley 1851,  '53-4. 

'56,  '58 

Augustus  C.   Brady 1852 

Hiram  J,  Cowles 1857 


278 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


Newton  King 1859 

Joseph  W.  Church 1861 

Henry  B.  Clark 1863-4 

Sidney  A.  Tullar 1865-7 

Washington  Sidney  Keats 

1886-84,  '94-7 
William  Goodrich  Keats 1885.  '92 


Simeon  K.  Craves '893 

Charles  H.  Zinn 1898-1900 

Charles  F.  Hunter 1901-02,  '04 

C.   Elmer  Himebauch 1903 

John   Uhrlettig 1905-6 

Charles    E.    Altenberg 1907-8 

Joseph  Henry  Heimbauch—1909-12 


TOWN    TREASURERS. 


Jacob  Burgit 1843-5.  48 

Henry  B.  Clark 184(1.  '49 

Joseph  Edwards 1847 

Seymour   Brooks 1850 

George   Edwards 1851 

Emery  Thayer 1852 

Lucius  S.  Moody T853~4 

Thomas  Burgit 1855 

Thomas  Russell 185'!,  '61 

Joseph  W.  Church 1857 

James  Palmer 1858 

Pitt  M.  Clark T859 

Matthew  Coleman i860 

Ceorge   Bentley 1862 

Simpson  Dartt 1863 


William  Goodrich  Keats__i864, 

'69.  '73-4 

Charles  M.  Millard 1865 

John   W.   Stoney 1866 

Harvey  Ambler 1867.  '70 

George  H.  Smith 1871-2,  'j^, 

Washington  Sidney  Keats 1876 

William  H.  Meadows 1877 

James  Monaghan 1878-93 

Robert  M.  Lacy 1894,  '96-7 

Harry    Dickerrnan 1895 

Thomas  W.  O'Connor 1898-1900 

Vrthur  Dickerrnan 1901 

Richard  Brownlee,  JY. 1902-6 

Daniel    Speight 1907-0 

John  Speight 1910-12 


JUSTICES  OF   THE   PEACE. 


. Mender  O.  Babcock [861-5 

Sc\  mour  Brooks 1860-0, 

'78-84,  '87-9 

Thomas  M    Burns [896-7 

James  Child   1866-7 

1  .aw  rcnce   Clancy 1 888-9 

James   ML   Crosswait 1007-8 

William   M.   Daniels 1898-9 

Charles  Fraser 1873-81,  '84  6 

Frank  1..  Fraser 1881-3.  '93 


Simeon  EC.  Drives 1886 

Edwin  K.  Dicks 1897 

Washington  S.  Keats    .1866,  '68-84 

Louis  II.  Kxosch [89] 

James   D.    Merrill 1867-9 

William    Miller 1 8=;i)-7} 

Riley    V  Spencer [859 

Aha  Slelibms    1NS7 

Elisha  Stillman [860-4 

Enos  II.  Stone 18(16-72 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


-7" 


Sidney  B.  Tullar 1860.  '62,  David  P.  Webster 1872-8 

'64-6,  '71-96  Perry  Welch 1896-7,  1906-7 

John  Uhrlettig 1900-' —         John  J.  White [864 

There  are  five  school  districts  wholly  within  the  town,  a  joint  district 
with  Troy  and  one  with  Waterford.      The  postoffice  at  Lake  Beulah,  of  the 

fourth  class,  has  two  rural  delivery  routes. 

VILLAGE  OF  EAST  TROY. 

Jacob  Burgit  and  Austin  McCracken  laid  out  their  village  in  1847.  on 
each  side  of  the  territorial  road  from  Milwaukee  to  Janesville,  making  Main 
street  of  that  part  of  the  highway  lying  within  village  limits.  Running  from 
its  eastern  beginning  nearly  southwest  by  westerly  (making  an  angle  of 
$8y20  with  the  meridian  line),  this  street  makes  an  angle  of  1570  at  its 
Church  street  crossing  and  leaves  the  western  limit  at  an  angle  of  8y2°  with 
an  east  and  west  line.  This  one  irregularity  lends  a  slightly  metropolitan 
aspect  to  the  village  plat,  the  other  streets  lying  in  the  direction  of  section 
lines.  The  site  was  well  chosen,  affording  short  drainage  lines,  and  the 
soil  permitting  dry  cellars  of  any  desired  depth.  Lots  were  sold  on  easiest 
terms  to  buyers,  and  as  there  were  already  a  few  dwellings  and  stores,  the 
village  had  a  healthy  and  hopeful  infancy. 

In  the  first  period  of  railway  building  one  line  from  the  lake  to  the  river 
parsed  by  ten  miles  northward  and  another  about  as  far  southward,  and  the 
Milwaukee  &  Beloit  Company,  in  1857.  brought  but  delusive  hope  to  villagers. 
Several  years  later  a  line  from  Chicago  crossed  the  township  five  miles  east- 
ward, and  the  branch  line  from  Elkhorn  to  Eagle  is  nearly  as  far  westward. 
East  Troy  for  more  than  forty  years  lay  in  a  rail-less  area.  The  village 
worked,  hoped,  waited,  and  respected  itself,  and  at  last  rejoined  the  long 
lost  world  in  1907  by  way  of  an  electric  line  to  Milwaukee.  hi  spite  -1 
this  long  want  of  railway  connection  the  village  was  always  fair  in  the 
eyes  of  visitors,  and  its  quickened  prosperity  has  added  something  to  its 
earlier  attractions. 

William  Burgit  built  a  grist-mill  in  1S44.  near  the  village.  In  [848  he 
sold  it  to  George  M.  Cousins,  Peter  A.  Cramer  and  Gideon  Garrett.  The 
next  year  Mr.  Cousins  left  tin-  firm  and  the  mill  was  sold  hack  to  Mr.  Burgit. 
from  whom  it  passed  in  [853  to  !K-in\  I:.  Evans.  I  d  vard  II.  Ball  and  [ohn 
W.  Denison  bought  it  at  a  sheriff's  -ale  in  [862,  in  I  sol  1  il  in  1863  to  Byron 
Brown.      William  I)    Smith  bought  it  in   f866,  Jonas  IL  ami  William  II.   Fox 


280  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

in  1869,  Charles  F.  Zartrow  in  1870,  Charles  A.  Schmidt  in  1876.  No 
further  change  of  ownership  is  found  in  record.  The  mill  is  yet  in  operation 
for  local  custom. 

CHURCHES. 

Ten  memhers  constituted  a  Baptist  society,  Octoher  5,  1842.  These 
were  Elvira,  Irene  and  William  Duncan,  Mrs.  Elizaheth  Ann  (Wheeler) 
Edwards,  Gaylord  and  Nancy  Graves,  Horace  Smith.  Eliza  Sperry.  Gilbert 
and  Mary  Waters.  The  line  of  pastors  was  Aha  Burgess  1842,  James 
Delaney  1845.  Milo  B.  Tremain.  James  Squier,  George  W.  Gates,  Peter 
Conrad.  Orra  Martin  ("temporary).  Amos  Weaver  i860.  Daniel  Dye  1861, 
E.  L.  Scofield  1805.  C.  J.  B.  Jackson  1868.  James  Delaney  1869,  W.  A. 
Rupert  [879-82,  Wilbur  W.  Conner  1883.  David  P  Phillips  1886.  There 
were  intervals,  short  and  long',  during  which  the  pulpit  was  supplied  from 
neighboring  churches,  or  was  vacant.  Mr.  Phillips  died  July  5,  1886,  and 
hut  occasional  service  was  held  until  Rev.  David  L.  Holbrook  came  on  April 
4.  [898,  and  with  that  day  closed  the  record  of  this  once  strong  church,  so 
reduced  by  deaths  and  removals.  Soon  after  this  the  building  became  a  hall 
for  the  Modern  Woodmen.  In  1905  the  remaining  memhers  received  formal 
letters  of  dismissal. 

Before  1 848  Rev.  Thomas  Morrissey  and  others  of  the  Catholic  Faith 
came  from  Burlington,  Lake  Geneva,  and  Waterford  to  hold  service  at 
private  houses.  In  that  year  Vicar-General  Kundig  ministered  similarly,  and 
after  him  Rev.  Matthias  Gernbauer.  In  1854  a  church  was  built  at  a  cost  of 
twelve  hundred  dollars.  In  1855  Rev.  Sebastian  Seif  became,  for  a  few 
months,  the  first  resident  priest  of  St.  Peter's.  After  him  was  Michael 
Haider  1855,  Thomas  Keenan  1857,  James  Stehle  [859.  Lawrence  N.  Kenne) 
r86o,  George  I..  Willard  1864.  fohn  Casey  [866,  !■"..  A.  Craves  [868,  11.  F. 
Pairbank  [869,  Thomas  Bergen  1870.  James  Fitzgibbon  [876,  J.  Eugene 
Mini  1N81,  Hugo  Victor  1884.  John  II.  Keller  1887.  John  T.  O'Lean  [893, 
Charles  Schmid  [896,  John  Joseph  Weinhoff  in  the  same  year  and  until  now. 
Of  these,  the  dates  of  birth  and  death  are  shown  for  Father  Bergen  1844-79. 
Fitzgibbon  [827-97,  Haider  [820-85,  Keenan  [829-80,  Kcnncv  7836-70. 
Kundig  [805-79,  Willard  [836-80.  In  1870  a  substantial  church  was  built 
at  eost  id"  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  and  a  school  house  in  [889  at  cost  of 
four  thousand  dollars.  The  somewhat  variable  membership  is  now  about 
one  hundred  twenty  families.  St.  Peter's  cemetery,  laid  out  at  a  well-chosen 
point  in  section  17.  nearly  two  miles  from  the  village,  was  for  main-  years 
the  resting  place  of  the  Catholic  dead  id"  other  towns,  even  as  far  a\\a\  as 
Elkhorn. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  281 

Mrs.  Mary  (Gardner)  Burgit,  Elizabeth  Chafin,  Stillman  and  Caroline 
Dewey,  Amasa,  Arabv.  and  Clarissa  A.  Hotchkiss,  William  Trumbull,  James 
W.  and  Rebecca  A.  Vail,  William  and  Elizabeth  Weed  met  at  Mr.  Yail's, 
June  22.  1839.  to  form  a  Presbyterian  society.  (Within  two  years  Mr. 
Hotchkiss  died  and  Miss  Clarissa  had  become  Mrs.  Trumbull.)  A  church 
was  built  in  1849.  '"  [855  the  society  became  Congregational,  and  in  1856 
began  to  build  a  new  church.  This  work  was  suspended  from  1N57  to  1871 
and  finished  in  1872.  Its  clergy  list  is:  Lemuel  Hall  1839,  David  A. 
Sherman  184L  Cyrus  E.  Rosenkrans  1845.  Charles  Morgan  1852,  Avelyn 
Sedgwick  1858,  Miles  Doolittle  1859.  Charles  Morgan  1X60.  Hanford  Fowle 
1X74.  Asher  W.  Curtis  1X7N,  Josiah  Beardsley  iK8i  .  Augustus  J.  Hayner 
[888,  George  Mackey  Whyte  1895,  Thomas  W.  Harbour  1897.  S.  Wilbur 
Bloom  1 901.  Joseph  Herbert  1002.  Walter  C.  Graf  1904,  Albert  E.  Pauly 
(unordained)  190S.  Isaac  P>.  Tracy  1910.  A  parsonage  is  part  of  the  church 
property. 

In  1874  fifteen  families  organized  as  St.  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
society.  In  1881  it  was  reorganized  as  St.  Paul's  and  the  society  bought  the 
old  Congregational  building.  L'ntil  1894  the  pulpit  was  supplied  from  the 
church  at  Elkhorn.  In  that  year  Rev.  Gustav  Schmidt  became  resident  pastor, 
and  was  yet  there  in  February,  1912.  In  1903  a  brick  church  was  built  at 
cost  of  eight  thousand  dollars,  and  a  parsonage  has  been  supplied. 

Early  in  1838  Rev.  Salmon  Stebbins  held  the  quarterly  meeting  for  the 
Aztalan  mission  at  Daniel  P.  Griffin's  house  and  there  organized  the  Methodist 
society  of  East  Troy,  with  the  Griffin  families.  Benjamin  Jennings.  Mrs. 
Austin  McCracken,  John  S.  and  Mariette  (Bivins)  Spoor  as  members.  Mrs. 
Rebecca  A.  Vail  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Weed.  Presbyterians,  joined  temporarily. 
A  log  house  served  for  a  meeting  place  until  early  in  1840  when  a  framed 
building  took  its  place  and  for  the  next  ten  years  was  used  more  or  less  h\ 
other  societies  as  well. 

The  several  pastors  have  been  in  nearly  the  follow  Jul;  order:  Samuel 
Pillshury  1839,  Jesse  TIalstead.  James  P.  Flanders,  James  McKean,  1  >. 
Worthington.  Leonard  F.  Moulthrop,  William  Hanson,  Henry  Whitehead. 
Nathaniel  Swift,  M.  L.  Read.  John  J.  Gallup.  J.  Bean,  \I.  Butler,  Jonathan 
M.  Snow.  Joseph  C.  Dana.  William  M.  Osborn,  Harrison  V.  Train.  William 
F.  Delap,  Hiram  H.  Hersey,  S.  Watts.  Russell  P.  Lawton,  John  G.  Pingree, 
Thomas  Wilcox.  Thomas  ('.  Wilson,  Rufus  Cooley  [864,  Isaac  Seniles  [867, 
W.  W.  Painter  i860.  Lafayette  F.  Cole  1873,  Thomas  Peep,  Samuel  Rey- 
nolds, J.  D.  Wilson,  A.  Porter,  Wallace  J.  Olmstead  [880,  Samuel  C.  Thomas 
1681,  RossiterC.  Parsons  [882,  Robert  Davidson  [884,  Thomas  Potter  [886, 


282  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

William  Moyle  1890.  John  Albert  Collinge  1895,  John  M.  Woodward  1901, 
William  Dawson  1903,  Alpheus  W.  Triggs  1908,  Amos  L.  Tucker  1910. 

Mrs.  Austin  McCracken  and  Artemisia  McLeod,  her  sister,  Mrs.  Rebecca 
A.  Vail,  and  other  pious  women  began  their  Sunday  school  work  in  1838, 
with  John  S.  Spoor  as  superintendent.  Until  the  formation  of  church  societies 
this  work  was  non-sectarian. 

Mrs.  Vail  opened  a  boarding  school  for  girls  at  her  house,  in  1839, 
joining  religious  to  secular  instructions.  She  was  excellently  qualified  for 
this  work  and  she  is  said  to  have  drawn  pupils  from  as  far  away  as  Milwaukee. 
She  was  also  a  pioneer  teacher  at  Geneva. 

Louisa  Augier  (who  in  1842  became  Mrs.  Charles  Taylor)  began  as  a 
public  school  teacher  in  1839,  for  some  years  in  the  chapel  building.  A 
schoolhouse  was  built  in  1846,  and  about  1854  a  new  one  took  its  place. 
This,  with  extensions  of  house  and  grounds,  is  wrorthy  of  the  village.  The 
value  of  the  school  property,  including  four  acres  of  ground,  may  be  about 
fifteen  thousand  dollars.  This  school  has  for  many  years  done  good  high 
school  work,  and  it  now  employs  seven  teachers. 

In  1839  S.  Buel  Edwards  built  his  blacksmith  shop  opposite  a  corner  of 
the  park,  so  well  framed  and  so  large  that  with  a  little  outward  improvement 
and  much  inner  alteration  and  adjustment  it  is  now  a  sightly  and  convenient 
town  hall  and  clerk's  office,  with  an  occasionally  useful  calaboose  in  its  rear. 

Oak  Ridge,  a  scant  mile  from  the  village,  became  in  1876  the  care  of 
an  organized  cemetery  association.  It  is  well  laid  out  and  kept  in  order,  and 
has  become  the  resting  place  of  Hon.  John  F.  Potter  and  most  of  his  family, 
and  of  many  another  early  settler.  St.  Peter's  lies  little  more  than  a  half-mile 
away. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Francis  1).  Craig  began  in  August,  1N70.  to  publish  the  East  Troy 
Gazette,  sold  it  about  a  year  later,  bought  it  again  in  1S81  and  discontinued 
it  about  1882.  He  also  published  monthly  the  American  Merino  in  the 
interest  of  sheep  breeders  of  East  Troy,  Caldwell's  Prairie,  and  adjacent 
towns  of  three  counties.  In  [885  and  1886  Wilbur  (  \.  Weeks  published 
experimentally  an  Easl  Tro)  edition  of  the  Delavan  Republican,  named  the 
Star,  with  Simeon  i\.  Graves  and  Washington  S.  Keats  in  turn  as  local  editors. 
In  [893  Samuel  K.  \dams  published  the  East  Tray  \'c;cs  and  sold  it  in  [896 
to  Oscar  R.  Kurzrok,  who  has  made  it  permanent.  I  lis  equipment,  which 
includes  ;i  power-presS)  is  modern  and  good,  and  his  newspaper  and  his  job 
work  prove  him  a  real  printer.  Politically  the  Nezvs  is  independent,  but  is  not 
a  "common  scold." 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  283 

VILLAGE   ORGANIZATION. 

At  a  special  election,  May  26,  1900,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  five  to 
fifty-three,  the  village  decided  to  organize  its  government  agreeable  to  the 
general  statutes.  Officers  were  chosen  June  23d :  Trustees,  Richard  Brown- 
lee,  Alva  Lumsden,  Owen  H.  Marshall.  Anthony  Noblet,  Charles  \V.  Smith, 
Oscar  F.  Winne ;  marshal,  Edwin  R.  Hicks;  street  commissioner,  Nathan  J. 
Randolph ;  health  officer.  Dr.  Orlo  S.  Canright. 

Presidents:  August  Wilmer  1900-3.  Lawrence  Clancy  1904-5,  Thomas 
W.  O'Connor  1906-9,  Paul  Schwartz  1910-12. 

Clerks:  Oscar  R.  Kurzrok  1900,  Fred  H.  Coburn  1901-3.  Leonard  E. 
Rice  1904-7,  Washington  S.  Keats  1908-11,  Oscar  R.  Kurzrok  1912. 

Treasurers:  Leonard  E.  Rice  1900-1,  Edward  Rohleder  1902-6,  Sey- 
mour E.  Marshall  1907,  Walter  C.  Dickerman  1908-10,  John  Weldon  1  <  >  1  1 , 
Henry  Gaskell  19 12. 

Assessors:     William  G.  Keats  1900-1,  Nathan  J.  Randolph  1902-12. 

Members  of  county  board  of  supervisors :  Washington  S.  Keats  1900, 
Adam  C.  Deist  1901-2,  Lawrence  Clancy  1903.  Charles  H.  Zinn  1904-7. 
Lawrence  Clancy  1908-12. 

POSTOFFICE. 

It  is  told  that  the  first  postoftice  in  the  township  was  established  in  1839, 
at  the  house  of  Henry  Powers,  in  section  3,  with  John  F.  Potter  as  postmaster. 
In  1S41  the  office  was  transferred  to  Sewall  Smith"s  store,  at  the  village. 
About  1844  it  was  discontinued  for  a  short  time  and  restored,  still  under 
Air.  Smith.  Edward  H.  Ball  was  appointed  in  1848.  John  D.  Hawes  [853, 
Thomas  Russell  about  1854,  Mr.  Smith  again  in  1861.  Henry  B.  Clark  [866, 
Joseph  W.  Church  i860.  Perry  O.  Griste  in  the  same  year,  Rudolph  Haber 
nicht  1894,  Mr.  Griste  [898,  Edwin  R.  Hicks  1902,  Benjamin  F.  Schwartz 
[911.  October  1,  njir.  this  postoffice  was  passed  from  the  fourth  to  the 
third  class,  and  the  postmaster's  -alary  became  eleven  hundred  dollars. 

PUBLIC   HOUSES. 

Austin  McCracken  built  his  1<>"  house  in  [836  and  made  it  serviceable 
as  an  inn.  Emery  Thayer  bought  the  place  in  [842  and  in  [845  built  a  house 
of  two  stories  on  the  same  site,  and  this  is  yet  a  pari  of  the  Easl  Troy  I  louse 
Other  owners  have  been  Timothy  Mower  1855,  Loren  J.  Edwards  [856,  S. 
Buel  Edwards  [862,  Orson  B.  Morse  [864,  Henr)    B.  I  lark-   [868.     In  [872 


284  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Mr.  Clark's  son-in-law,  Harold  H.  Rogers,  became  his  partner  and  at  his 
death,  in  1875.  Mr.  Rogers  was  his  successor.  Later  proprietors  have  been 
Oscar  B.  Rogers.  J.  Frank  Brooks,  and  E.  Louis  Brooks,  who  now  sits  at  the 
receipt  of  custom.  Besides  these  are  remembered,  with  very  uncertain  dates, 
as  tenants  if  not  owners,  Austin  Wright,  Seymour  Brooks,  William  Hare. 
Joseph  H.  Edwards,  Alansori  Beckwith,  Charles  W.  Smith,  and  James  F. 
Jude.  Clark  &  Rogers  bought  an  old  church  and  joined  it  to  the  hotel. 
Thus,  the  East  Troy  House  is  a  two-fold  relic  of  the  village  infancy. 

Samuel  Bradley  built  a  cobble-stone  house  of  three  stories,  between 
1846  and  [849,  named  it  the  Buena  Vista  House,  and  occupied  it  for  a  few 
years.  This  property  has  changed  ownership  several  times.  Among  its 
owners  and  occupants  have  been  Daniel  J.  Kees  about  i860,  Richard  Hotton. 
lames  H.  Hall.  Wright  J.  Larkin,  and  Messrs.  Primmer.  Justin  and  Churchill 
severally.     It  is  now  no  lunger  used  as  a  public  house. 

BUSINESS   ITEMS. 

Sewall  Smith  built  a  store  and  displayed  a  stock  of  goods  in  1841.  Austin 
Wright  began  competition  in  1842.  and  within  a  short  time  Cyril  L.  Oatman 
and  ex-Sheriff  Mallory.  from  Geneva,  combined  these  two  enterprises.  Other 
early  general  dealers  distinctly  known  were  Alonzo  Piatt  (once  of  Elkhorn), 
Henry  11.  Austin  with  John  1).  Dorrance.  and  Joseph  R.  Stone  with  variable 
partnerships,  as  Peter  S.  Markham,  Hiram  J.  Cowles,  and  Joseph  H.  Hurlbut. 
Later  dealers  have  been  Jonathan  Bailey.  E.  K.  Barker,  Adam  C.  Deist,  Perry 
O.  Criste.  Wilder  M.  Howard,  George  and  William  Meadows,  Charles  W. 
Smith,   llobart  A.  Tullar,  August  and   Bernhardt  Wilmer. 

Ilenn  II.  Austin,  |uhn  P.  Chafin,  William  T.  Donaldson,  Alexander  and 
Frank  L.  Fraser,  Perry  0.  Griste,  Walter  C.  Hatch.  Harold  H.  Rogers, 
Charles  W.  and  George  II.  Smith  organized  the  State  Bank  of  East  Troy, 
November  10.  [892,  and  began  business  on  the  following  New  Year's  day, 
with  Rogers  as  president,  Griste  vice-president,  Chafin  cashier.  Mr.  Rogers 
died  March  23,  [897,  and  in  December  Mr.  Griste  became  president  and 
George  Meadows  vice-president.  Edward  B.  Rohleder  was  then  chosen 
assistant  cashier.  In  September,  H|ii.  Mr.  Griste  retired  from  the  bank 
and  Mr.  Chafin  became  president.  Mr.  Rohleder  vice-president  (and  assistant 
cashier),  ami  Henry  E.  Henry,  from  Kew  askum.  cashier.  The  capital  of  this 
bank  is  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

October  25,  t')i  1,  the  stockholders  of  the  farmers'  and  Merchants'  State 
Rank   chose  directors  and   officers:      lames   S.    Brooks,   John    Brophy,    lames 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN".  285 

and  John  B.  Crosswaite,  Albert  Jude,  James  F.  Jude  (president),  Dr.  Timothy 
J.  O'Leary  (vice-president),  .Matthew  J.  Powers  (cashier),  Frank  J.  Rice, 
Charles  Taft,  and  Valentine  Zimmerman,  and  named  Leonard  Martin  as 
assistant  cashier.  In  February,  1912,  workmen  were  laying  the  deep  concrete 
foundation  walls  of  a  new  building  for  this  bank. 

Friday.  December  13,  1907,  the  villagers  saw  the  arrival  from  and 
return  to  Milwaukee  of  electric  cars,  and  themselves  restored  to  easy  and 
frequent  connection  with  that  greater  world  which  their  parents  and  grand- 
parents had  left  seventy  years  before. 

A  village  system  of  water-works  began  in  1908  to  afford  reasonable 
protection  from  fires,  and  bonds  were  issued  to  the  amount  of  thirteen  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars.  A  well  was  bored  six  hundred  ninety-one  feet  in 
depth,  reaching  water  enough  for  present  use,  at  the  least;  and  pumping 
works  with  steel  tower  and  tank  provided.  The  water  rises  in  the  well  within 
about  twenty-one  feet  of  the  surface.  The  drill  passed  through  ninety-two 
feet  of  drift,  three  feet  of  limestone,  and  thirty-six  feet  into  St.  Peter's  sand- 
stone.     In  1 910  the  population  was  673. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


CITY  OF  ELK  HORN". 


John  Starr  Rockwell  was  in  1836  a  clerk  in  the  government's  newly 
established  land  office  at  Milwaukee.  He  learned  there,  officially  and  extra- 
officially,  something  of  use  to  himself  and  to  his  brother  Le  Grand,  then  in 
his  twenty -fifth  year,  who  had  come  from  Butternuts,  Xew  York,  with  a 
fair  amount  of  means,  to  look  well  about  him  for  a  suitable  village  site.  The 
brothers,  with  Horace  Coleman,  formed  a  partnership  for  the  settlement  of 
a  county  seat.  In  February,  1837,  Le  Grand  and  Air.  Coleman  left  Milwaukee, 
but  not  in  quest  of  mill-site,  lakeside,  or  other  special  gift  of  nature  to  man. 
They  knew  by  common  report  that  good  land  could  be  found  in  nearly  every 
section  of  southeastern  Wisconsin,  and  the  immediate  object  of  their  search 
was  a  township  corner-stake.  Though  as  yet  unnamed  and  unorganized. 
Walworth  count)-  was  already  more  than  a  bare  possibility  as  to  its  position, 
form,  and  dimensions;  for,  men  of  many  political  and  speculative  devices 
gathered  at  Milwaukee  in  the  earliest  existence  of  the  territory  of  Wisconsin. 

These  two  speculative  geometers  found  the  embryo  county's  centre  of 
gravity  in  a  bit  of  bog,  at  the  meeting-point  of  four  townships.  Then  they 
returned  for  materials,  tools,  and  supplies  for  settlement.  Mr.  Coleman's 
faith  in  the  enterprise  grew  lukewarm  and  he  withdrew  from  it.  and  soon 
appeared  at  Spring  Prairie.  Mr.  Rockwell  formed  another  partnership  quite 
readily,  and  on  February  -'7th  was  at  the  pivotal  stake  again,  lie  came  for 
himself  and  brother;  Milo  Edwin  Bradley  for  his  father.  Daniel  Edwin; 
Albert  Ogden  for  Lewis  John  Higby,  who  afterward  bought  in  section  g  of 
Richmond.  \t  Spring  Prairie  they  induced  Hollis  Latham,  who  had  lieen 
there  a  few  weeks,  to  go  with  them  The  company  pre-empted  four  quarter- 
sections  and  built  a  cabin  in  the  *  ieneva  quarter.  Mr.  Latham  chose  his  home 
in  the  same  quarter,  while  Rockwell  and  Ogden  made  theirs  in  the  Delavan 
quarter.  The  company  yielded  its  claim  to  the  Sugar  Greek  quarter  in  [839, 
when  the  county  commissioners  selected  a  quarter-section  for  the  county's 
buildings, 

It  was  thought  that  until  it  should  be  needed  for  county-seal  and  metro- 
politan use-  the  company's  square  mile,  as  a  greal  dairy-farm,  would  soon  bring 
fair  returns  for  the  money,  work,  and  hope  invested.     In  this  these  men  were 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  28/ 

too  far-sighted  by  forty  years;  but  their  city  is  now  at  the  centre  of  one  of 
the  leading  dairying  counties  of  the  state,  and  is  a  shipping-point  for  a  much 
larger  area  than  the  company's  square  mile.  In  May  a  framed  house  was  built 
of  Geneva-sawn  oak,  eighteen  feet  by  thirty  feet,  one  and  one-half  stories 
high.  During  court  terms  this  became  a  boarding  house,  but  not  until  Mi- 
Latham  had  married  Daniel  E.  Bradley's  daughter.  Mrs.  Lemira  Lewis.  The 
settlement  of  the  proposed  county-seat  was  in  a  special  way  confirmed  at  the 
new  house  by  the  birth  of  Le  Grand  Latham.  January  4.  1839.  But  the  young 
city  had  not  been  childless.  Mrs.  Latham  had  a  daughter  of  her  first 
marriage,  Elizabeth  Ann  Lewis  (  1 828-1888).  who  in  1848  married  Phineas 
C.  (1824-1887).  son  of  Andrew  Gilbert  and  Calmy  Butler.  Henry,  youngest 
of  the  large  family  of  Daniel  E.  Bradley  and  Betsey  Sturges,  was  a  year  or 
two  older  than  his  niece.  Milo  E.  Bradley  and  wife  Nancy  had  seven  children, 
though  not  all  of  them  as  yet  born.  This  family  soon  settled  in  section  1  of 
Geneva,  and  some  years  later  moved  to  La  Crosse  county. 

Colonel  Phoenix,  crossing  the  prairie  southeast  of  the  Rockwell  settle- 
ment, had  found  a  pair  of  antlers  which  he  hung  on  a  tree  to  mark  a  point 
in  his  trail  between  Spring  Prairie  and  Delavan.  This  slight  circumstance 
soon  named  the  prairie,  the  village,  and  the  northwestern  quarter  of  the 
county.  This  extension  of  the  name  sometimes  makes  it  difficult  or  impossible 
to  determine  whether  persons  named  in  other  than  land  records  were  or  were 
not  of  the  village. 

In  1838  Sheldon  Walling  (1705-1875)  and  wife,  Anna  Peets  (1798- 
[875),  came  from  western  Xew  York  to  section  7  of  Geneva.  The  next 
year  Mr.  Walling,  having  become  sheriff,  moved  into  the  village,  where  he 
and  his  sons  Fred  and  George  went  into  retail  business.  The  father  was  a 
tanner.  In  1839  Edward  Elderkin  and  Horatio  S.  Winsor  came  to  practice 
law.  Elderkin  bought  a  farm  in  the  south  half  of  the  Geneva  section,  hi 
1840  Moses  Bartlett,  William  Coulson,  John-  Hall,  Henry  II.  Hartson. 
Hudson  Van  Brunt,  and  George  Watson  came,  bul  nol  all  of  them  to  leave 
of  themselves  a  clear  memory.  In  1841  Richard  Beals  1  17N1  1S551  and 
son  Isaac  F.  (  1814-1891  l,  Geoi  ■•■  Gale,  Phineas  M.  Johnson,  Levi  Lee.  Zenas 
Ogden:  in  1842,  Booth  B.  Davis  and  James  O.  Eaton:  in  1843  Adelaide  C 
Beardslev.  Dexter  Dewing  and  son  Geprge,  Sanford  and  William  ( ).  Garfield, 
William  E  Gregory,  Charles  N.  Meigs  Capt.  George  and  Dr.  George  II. 
Young,  were  among  the  arrivals.  Some  of  these  men  owned  land  in  adjoining 
towns.  Others  of  the  earlier  villagers  were  Philo  Baird,  Curtis  Bellows,  Lewis 
S.  Bemis.  Reuben  R.  Brown,  Alexander  S.  Brown,  Zophar  Chittenden, 
Russell  Crandall,  lohn  Cromlev,  Anthonv  Delap,  Eli  K.  Frost,  John  Gillespie, 


288  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Peter  Colder,  Xoah  Harriman,  David  Hartson,  Horace  N.  Hay,  Dr.  Samuel 
W.  Henderson,  Edwin  Hodges,  George  Humphrey,  Samuel  Mallory,  John 
Matheson,  Job  O.  Matteson,  Orrin  Maxham,  Lot  Mayo  and  sons  Andrew 
and  Samuel,  Urban  D.  Meacham,  Alonzo  Piatt,  Davis  Reed,  Wyman  Spooner, 
William  L.  Stowe,  Levi  Thomas,  Samuel  and  James  L.  Tubbs,  Dr.  Eleazar 
and  Francis  A.  Utter,  Lucius  Wilmot,  Edward  Winne. 

Lewis  Shepard  Bemis  (1819-1890),  sun  of  Allen  Bemis  and  Edna 
Shepard.  came  from  Niagara  county.  Xew  York,  with  wife  Olivia  (  1825- 
1904).  daughter  of  Dexter  Dewing.  About  1850  he  became  landlord  of  the 
Exchange  Hotel,  and  after  1857  went  into  like  business  at  Milwaukee. 

Reuben  R.  Brown  was  for  some  years  master  of  the  Masonic  lodge  and 
was  an  instructor  in  the  work  of  the  lodge. 

Zophar  Chittenden  (1823-1894)  came  from  Ohio,  a  carpenter  and  joiner, 
and  built  several  of  the  better  houses  of  the  time,  in  the  village  and  for 
prosperous  farmers.     He  left  after  1857  and  died  at  Kalamazoo. 

John  Cromley  (  1 822-1899)  was  a  master  shoemaker.  He  made  the 
overland  trip  to  California  and  return,  and  his  general  usefulness  and  com- 
radelike quality  shown  in  the  expedition  and  at  the  mines  were  gratefully 
appreciated  by  his  companions.  At  home,  too,  he  was  one  of  the  truest  and 
kindest  of  men. 

Anthony  Delap  (  [813-1896)  was  a  blacksmith,  with  other  capabilities. 
He  built  a  good  house,  which  be  sold  to  Levi  Thomas  and  then  passed  over 
to  East  Delavan  neighborhood. 

James  O.  Eaton  married  January  1,  [843,  Mary  Miranda  Dwinnell,  a 
sister  of  the  pioneer-preacher-chronicler  of  Lafayette.  He  opened  one  of  the 
earliest  general  stores  in  the  village. 

Sanford  Garfield  (  [793-1872),  son  of  Solomon,  Jr..  was  a  cousin  of 
President  Garfield's  father,  lie  married  Clarissa  Oakley  (1795-1883).  He 
was  a  shoemaker,  and  came  here  from  Otsego  by  way  of  Chautauqua  county. 

William  Oakley  Garfield  1  [819-1888)  was  born  in  Vermont;  learned 
his  lather's  calling — shoe-making  and  came  with  him  in  1842.  [lis  wife, 
Fidelia  (  1822-11)10 ).  was  a  daughter  of  Dexter  Dewing. 

William  E.  Gregory  came  with  more  than  average  means,  bought  a 
farm  in  the  Lafayette  quarter,  and  died  soon  afterward.  His  son,  William 
Eliot  Gregory,  about  [857  went  to  Galveston,  where  he  was  for  several 
years  a  successful  business  man.  with  some  railway  interests.  Mis  occasional 
return  was  welcomed  by  old  friends.  I  Ms  younger  son,  \s.qih.  remained  here 
till  his  death,  about   [875. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  j8<") 

Xoah  Harriman  (1805-1903),  born  in  Vermont,  bought  a  farm  nearb) 
in  Lafavette,  and  preached  as  a  licensed  exhorter.  His  wife  was  Lucinda 
Davis  (1797- 1 891). 

Horace  Noble  Hay  was  for  a  few  years  Otis  Preston's  partner  in  retail 
business.  Air.  Preston  mentioned  him  as  one  who  gave  much  attention  to 
his  dress  and  personal  appearance.  He  owned  a  farm  in  Lafayette.  In 
1852  he  started  for  California,  and  died  of  yellow  fever,  at  sea,  on  his  way 
out.    His  wife  was  Margaret  Fuller. 

Dr.  Samuel  Wirt  Henderson  (1817-1857).  son  of  Dr.  John  M.  Hender- 
son's first  wife.  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Samuel  Wirt,  was  born  at  Willoughby, 
Ohio.  He  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Nathan  Hicks.  He  was  accounted 
a  skillful  physician  and  surgeon  A  jump  from  a  wagon  to  hard  ground 
resulted  in  inflammation  of  the  bowels  and  in  death  after  a  week  of  pain.  He 
understood  his  case  from  the  first. 

John  Matheson  (1820-1895),  son  of  John  and  Jessie,  was  born  in  one 
of  the  joint  counties  of  Ross  and  Cromarty,  Scotland ;  apprenticed  to  a  tailor 
at  Inverness;  came  to  Lafayette  in  1840;  opened  a  shop  and  store  at  Elkhorn; 
married  Loretta  (1827-1903),  daughter  of  Rev.  Luther  Lee. 

William  Lyman  Stow  e  I  1821-1891  )  was  born  at  Stowe.  northeastern 
Ohio.  He  married  Lavina.  daughter  of  Philip  and  Mary  Mink,  of  Walworth, 
in  1851.     He  was  a  cabinet-maker  and  house-joiner. 

Samuel  Tubbs  (died  in  1861)  and  wife.  Polly  Frost  (1785- 1875),  were 
natives  of  Connecticut  who  settled  at  Augusta,  New  York,  and  lived  a  short 
time  at  Chagrin  Falls,  Ohio.  A  son.  Isaac  P.,  died  at  Elkhorn  in  1859,  aged 
fifty.  A  daughter.  Martha,  wife  of  Nicholas  George  Bowers,  and  two 
daughters  were  successively  wives  of  Lot  Mayo.  Mrs.  Tubbs  was  nearl) 
related  to  Alvah  J.  and  Eli  K.  Frost. 

Edward  Winne  (  [815-1886)  was  son  of  a  rich  man  of  Albany,  and 
was  at  once  a  business  man  (in  lumber  and  grain)  at  Elkhorn  and  a  farmer 
of  section  4.  Geneva.  The  hard  times  of  1X57  sent  him  to  northeastern  Iowa. 
He  died  at  Bozeman,  Montana.  '  His  wife,  Lydia  Maria  Chapman,  was 
married  November  6,  1844;  died  at  Waverly,  Iowa,  in  [892.  Mr.  Winne's 
father  left  to  him  his  hooks,  and  for  many  years  these  constituted  the  large  1 
private  library  at  Elkhorn. 

Having  chosen  his  villagi      te    settled  on  it.  and  named  it   from  Colonel 
Phoenix's  trail-mark,  and  a  vote  of  the  county  in   [838  (confirmed  by  leg 
lative  act)  having  made  it  the  county-seat.   Mr.   Rockwell's  next   great   care 
was  to  lav  out  a  few  streets  ahout  the  park  and  set  <  >ff  tin  I  blocks 

(19) 


2QO  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

into  home  lots.  As  at  first  platted  the  village  was  wholly  on  the  county's 
quarter-section.  Edward  Xorris,  the  county  surveyor,  laid  out  the  streets, 
blocks  and  lots,  and  Mr.  Rockwell  was  appointed  county  agent  for  sale  of 
lots.  There  were  five  parallel  streets,  running  northward  and  southward. 
Beginning  with  East  street,  on  the  section  line,  the  others  are  Washington, 
Wisconsin,  Broad  and  Church.  Beginning  near  the  intersecting  section  line, 
the  streets  running  from  east  to  west  are  named  Park  (then  called  South), 
Walworth,  Court,  Jefferson,  and  North.  Court,  Wisconsin,  Walworth,  and 
Church  streets  bound  the  park,  which  overlies  or  cuts  in  twain  Broad  street. 
All  these  and  the  newer  streets  are  four  rods  wide,  except  Walworth  and 
Broad,  which  are  six  rods  wide.  These  two  streets  were  designed  for  business 
uses,  but  a  hotel  built  at  Wisconsin  and  Walworth  streets  diverted  business 
from  Broad  street.  No  alleys  were  considered  in  the  original  plat  nor  in  the 
several  additions. 

Rockwell's  first  addition  enlarged  the  village  by  a  narrow  tier  of  blocks 
eastward,  and  by  a  row  of  blocks  southward,  to  Rockwell  street.  After  1854, 
when  coming  railways  filled  men's  minds  by  day  with  hopes  and  their  dreams 
by  night  with  visions  of  cities  rising  like  exhalations,  bringing  wealth  in 
front-foot  values  to  each  lucky  lot  owner,  Colonel  Elderkin  laid  out  his  addi- 
tion southeastwardly  and  gave  Jackson,  Wright  and  Frank  streets  to  the  vil- 
lage map.  Arm ild's  addition,  eastward,  was  laid  out  by  the  heirs  of  Giles 
Thompson  Arnold  of  Victor,  New  York,  who  had  bought  a  quarter  section  and 
had  soon  afterward  died.  Levi  Lee's  addition  and  the  smaller  Edwin  Hodges 
addition,  westward,  lay  within  the  area  of  village  growth.  Booth  B.  Davis' 
addition,  northward,  gave  a  few  more  streets  and  avenues,  and  grew  some- 
what more  slowly  into  valuable  lots.  The  rather  premature  Squire  Stanford 
and  Heman  II.  Harrison  additions  lie  northwestward  and  are  but  thinly 
settled,  and  much  like'  them,  except  as  to  Walworth  street,  is  the  farther 
westward  Devendorf,  Mallory  and  Spencer  addition.  Dr.  Devendorf  was  of 
Delavan.  Samuel  Mallory  was  a  substantial  and  reputable  citizen,  but  not  a 
real-estate  "boomer."  David  I'.  Spencer  became  too  well  known  to  bankers 
and  depositors  in  three  states,  lie  was  at  Elkhorn  less  than  two  years. 
Finally,  there  were  the  abortive  Centralia  and  Byzantium  additions,  the  first 
far  to  eastward,  the  other  across  the  railway,  southward.  Both  were  the 
unsubstantial  creations  id"  Otis  Preston's  restless  mind 

A  village  straggling  into  four  sections,  in  as  mam  towns,  soon  found 
it  inconvenient  to  divide  its  little  squad  of  voters  among  four  polling-places 
on  election  days  and  its  yearly  accounts  with  the  county  government  equally 
troublesome  at  the  record  offices.     A   legislative  act  of  February   27,    1S40. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  291 

relieved  this  situation  by  creating  a  new  town  from  section  1  of  Delavan, 
section  6  of  Geneva,  section  31  of  Lafayette,  and  section  36  of  Elkhorn. 
As  the  new  town  received  the  name  of  its  village,  the  older  Elkhorn  became 
Sugar  Creek.  In  1856  the  village  was  chartered  and  its  limits  made  co- 
extensive with  those  of  the  town,  the  whole  constituting  also  one  school 
district.  In  1897  a  general  law  made  Elkhorn  a  city  of  the  fourth  class, 
its  population  being  then  above  fifteen  hundred  and  below  ten  thousand. 
With  tin-  last  change  disappeared  the  time-honored  April  town  meeting, 
which  regulated  the  corporate  revenue  and  outlay  by  viva  voce  vote  of  electors 
present  at  the  hour  appointed;  and  with  it  went  the  Jul}-  school  meeting, 
which  in  similar  purely  democratic  way  disposed  yearly  of  the  affairs  of  the 
village  considered  as  a  school  district.  The  change  of  four  villages  of  tins 
county  to  cities  has  brought  more  power  to  the  local  administrations,  broader 
and  more  efficient  systems  of  public  improvements,  and,  of  course,  greater 
cost  to  taxpayers. 

The  city  of  Elkhorn  lies  above  sea-level,  at  the  railway  station  996  feet, 
at  the  court-house  1,031  feet,  at  points  in  the  farthest  northwest  quarter 
1,038  feet.  It  was  for  long  supposed  and  said  that  it  is  on  the  highest 
ground  in  the  county,  which  is  nearly  true,  but  not  so  nearly  as  to  warrant 
the  slight  misstatement.  Sharon  and  Walworth  villages  are  nearly  as  high 
and  the  Yerkes  Observatory  is  on  ground  higher  by  twelve  feet.  The 
point  in  the  short  high  ridge  of  section  19,  Geneva,  is  about  one  hundred  feet 
higher  than  any  part  of  Elkhorn.  The  rise  from  the  station  northward  to 
Park  street  is  of  nearly  uniform  slope.  The  greater  part  of  the  city  is  built 
on  practically  level  ground.  The  surface  of  the  town  was  mostly  of  black- 
prairie  mould,  a  spade-thrust  deep,  which  gave  rise  to  a  harmless  sarcasm; 
in  effect,  that  sixteen  fine  cornfields  weie  spoiled  to  make  a  needless  city. 
The  gravel  next  below  is  so  mixed  and  underlaid  with  clay  as  to  make  the 
natural  surface  drainage  worse  than  that  of  any  city  or  village  of  the  county, 
excepting  Walworth.  But  it  has  become  practicable,  after  many  years.  In 
secure  dry  cellars  for  new  buildings.  Good  sewers  are  possible  whenever 
the  citizens  are  able  and  willing  to  bear  their  cost,  as  there  is  a  lair  descent 
southward  to  Jackson's  creek.  A  once  considerable  pond  or  marsh  in  the 
northeastern  quarter  has  so  far  shrunk  as  to  leave  but  twenty-five  acres, 
at  the  northern  line,  slightly  under  water. 

CHURCHES   AND   SCHOOLS. 

Religion  and  secular  education  came  hand  in  hand.  A  Methodist  society 
was  formed  about  1841,  and  before  the  end  of  that  year  the  Episcopal  society 


_■(,_•  WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

began  its  long  pioneer  period.  The  Congregationalists  organized  in  1843, 
the  Baptists  in  1852,  the  Catholics  in  E&48,  the  Evangelican  Lutherans  in 
1870,  the  Universalists  built  a  church  in  1874.  the  Lutherans  of  the  Ohio 
synod  separated  in  1898  and  built  a  church.  In  1856  the  Methodists  built 
a  large  church  of  brick,  which  was  burned  in  [859.  They  rebuilt  of  wood, 
afterward  encased  with  brick,  and  have  continued  to  improve  their  home 
within  and  without,  and  they  first  bought  and  then  built  a  parsonage.  St. 
John's,  Episcopal,  was  built  about  1855,  of  wood,  extended  in  1858,  re-built 
of  brick  during  the  rectorship  of  Mr.  Pullen — having  first  built  a  rectory. 
Extensions  and  improvements  succeeded,  and  an  organ,  altar,  baptismal  font, 
and  stained  windows  have  given  the  church  some  distinction  in  appearance. 
In  1858  the  Congregational  am!  Wesleyans  jointly  built  a  church,  which  in 
1882  gave  way  to  a  suitable  brick  building,  creditable  to  the  liberality  and 
good  taste  of  its  owners.  (The  Wesleyans  long  ago  retired  from  the  part- 
nership, and  have  been  absorbed  by  other  societies).  A  parsonage  was  soon 
added  to  the  Congregational  property.  Like  their  Methodist,  Episcopal,  and 
Baptist  brethren,  they  own  a  dining-hall  on  the  fair  ground.  The  Baptist 
church,  built  in  1853  of  wood,  roomy  and  comfortable,  was  pulled  away  in 
1885  and  a  brick  church  took  its  place.  This  was  largely  rebuilt  in  1897  and 
made  a  thin,?  of  beauty.  In  Kn'7  it  was  so  far  injured  by  tire  that  it  was 
built  anew,  and  new  seems  likely  to  meet  all  needs  for  a  generation  to  come. 
The  Catholics  had  for  several  year-  held  fortnightly  service  in  a  mission 
chapel.  In  [880  they  built  St.  Patrick's  church  of  brick  on  a  fine  lot 
prudently   acquired    at    a    favorable   opportunity   some    years   previously,    and 

upied  it  until  too;,  when  it  was  pulled  down  and  built  anew  with  en- 
largement and  improvement  \  good  house  for  the  priest  was  built  soon 
after  the  firsl  building  was  finished.  There  is  much  in  the  story  of  this 
ciety's  early  struggles  and  of  the  things  it  has  accomplished  without  noise 
to  move  tin-  mind  to  sympath)  and  admiration.  The  older  Lutheran  church 
was  built,  of  wood,  in  1 88  |  on  the  site  of  a  house  built  for  a  select  school. 
It  odern  village  style,  and  i-  both  sightly  and  comfortable.     In  the 

pastorate  of  Rev.  Carl   II.    \.uerswald,    18.18,  the  membi       divided  and  the 

eders  buill   a  brick   church   in  the  same  block.     The  Univ.  rsalisl    society 
■    inactive  ome  years.     Christian  Scientists  use  part 

of  the  otherwise  empty  church. 

The  present  church  buildings  are  becoming  to  a  not  wealthy  little  city, 

1   the  societies  arc  mostly    full   of  the   vitality    which   supports   Christian 

ation  and  it-  appropriate  work.     The  several  slow,  painful  steps  in 

the  earlier  >\\    mosl    ,         1  church   societies  are 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  _'<j.i 

naturally  and  rightly  memorable  to  the  surviving  toilers,  and  incidents  of 
these  patient  struggles  are  yet  told.  Such  trials  of  body  and  spirit  are  part 
of  the  common  experience  of  newly  planted  and  for  long  but  slowly-increas- 
ing communities  and  institutions.  Each  congregation  still  knows  and  feels 
the  disproportion  of  its  means  to  its  great  aims ;  but  Episcopal  rectors  no 
longer  swim  swollen  streams  and  labor  through  not  less  formidable  mud 
to  meet  communicants  in  a  pioneer's  little  dwelling,  nor  do  gray-haired 
Catholic  priests  plow  or  plunge  through  otherwise  unbroken  road  from 
Delavan  to  Elkhorn  to  hold  fortnightly  service  in  a  chapel  little  more  sightly 
or  comfortable  than  a  barn. 

The  story  of  schools  has  points  of  resemblance  to  that  of  churches; 
but  the  great  difference  is  that  churches  are  built  and  maintained  by  the 
voluntary  sacrifices  of  the  few,  while  the  schools  quickly  become  the  care  of 
the  body  politic  and  are  upheld  by  taxation  which  exempts  no  man  for  his 
unwillingness.  The  rise  of  neither  institution  is  by  sudden  flight.  Each 
moves  always  forward,  through  difficulty  and  delaying  circumstances,  by 
uneven  steps,  toward  its  always  far-ahead  object.  Private  schools  at  Elk- 
horn,  taught  by  Lydia  Carr,  Mary  S.  Brewster,  Adelaide  B.  Beardsley, 
Colonel  Elderkin,  and  others  whose  names  are  lost  to  local  memory,  were 
followed  in  1840  by  a  public  school.  Its  house  was  built  on  a  lot  reserved 
for  its  purpose  from  the  county's  quarter  section.  It  was  twenty  feet  square, 
and  afterward  remembered  as  the  "old  oak  school-house."  In  1850  a  larger 
house  was  built  on  the  same  lot,  of  native  brick,  two-storied,  without  outer 
ornament,  substantial,  homely,  and  comfortable.  This  house  was  not 
neglected  by  prudent  school  boards,  for  it  was  occasionally  painted  as  to 
its  wood-work  and  its  rooms,  vestibule  and  stairway,  whitewashed  yearly 
as  to  ceilings  and  walls.  Its  construction  admitted  such  extensions  and 
alterations  as  to  make  it  a  neat  old-fashioned  dwelling  for  Doctor  Reynolds, 
and  after  him  Belden  Weed.  Ex-Sheriff  Derthick  now  lives  where  soldiers, 
civil  officers,  business  and  professional  men,  and  other  merely  useful  and 
excellent  citizens,  many  of  whom  are  yet  living  between  Michigan  shore  and 
Pacific  coast,  learned  the  three  R's  and  something  besides,  and  laid  broad 
bases  for  their  maturer  lives. 

A  new  school  house  was  built  in  1X57,  in  Arnold's  addition,  fronting 
Jackson  street,  and  at  the  head  of  Walworth  street.  It  was  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  four  grades.  Its  ample  ground  has  now  a  fine  growth  of  shade 
trees.  A  two-storied  addition  was  built  in  1882  and  burned  with  the  whole 
structure  in  1886.  For  a  year  the  departments  divided  themselves  among 
nearly  a  dozen  temporary  refuges.     The  new  building  with   furnishing  cost 


294 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  Increase  in  the  number  of  pupils  and  depart- 
ments, arising  from  the  admission  of  pupils  from  other  towns,  made  another 
building  needful.  This  was  supplied,  at  a  cost  of  thirty-five  thousand  dollars, 
in  1906,  by  a  separate  house  for  the  sole  use  of  the  high  school,  built  a  few 
feet  from  the  older  house.  Both  are  steam-heated  and  electric-lighted.  The 
total  value  of  ground,  buildings,  and  equipment  is  about  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars.  Nominally  a  high  school  for  some  years,  a  resolution  of  the  school 
meeting  of  July.  1876,  made  this  institution  really  so  by  directing  a  slight  re- 
arrangement of  study-courses  and  other  compliances  with  the  rules  of  the 
state  superintendent's  office,  where  the  subsequent  work  of  the  school  has 
been  acceptable. 

A  full  list  of  teachers  cannot  now  be  shown,  for  such  record  as  was 
made  was  cared  for  but  shabbily  by  often-changing  clerks.  It  is  learned  from 
records  and  somewhat  uncertain  memory  that  there  were  Levi  Jackson,  Mary 
S.  Brewster,  and  Lydia  Carr  in  1841  ;  Emeline  McCracken  in  1842;  Adelaide 
C.  Beardsley  1844;  Eli  K.  Frost  and  Helen  Mar  Cowdery  1849;  Alvah  J. 
Frost  1850;  William  P.  Frost  about  that  year.  Miss  Brewster  became  Mrs. 
Edward  Pentland,  Miss  McCracken  was  married  to  Edwin  Wallis  Meacham, 
ami  Miss  Cowdery  to  Darius  Ionian. 

After  these  the  record  is  rather  less  broken:  James  15.  Tower.*  Benja- 
min C.  Rogers*  and  wife,  and  Selinda  J.  Gardner  in  1851:  William  C. 
Dustin,*  Mrs.  Flora  M.  l'ratt.  Harriet  Leonard  in  1852;  M.  W.  Carroll.* 
Pamela  A.  Darling,  Mary  Louisa  and  Sarah  F.  Patton  in  1853;  Matthew 
Waldenmeyer,*  Julia  Stevens,  Mi-ses  Morrill  and  Swain  in  1854;  J.  C. 
Plumb,*  Stephen  Sibley,*  Henry  D.  L.  Webster,*  Sarah  J.  Allen.  Ellen 
I'.canlsley  in  1855;  George  M.  Dewey,*  Robert  M.  McKee,*  J.  J.  M.  Angier,* 
feanette  Henderson,  Mr-.  Laura  Young  Plumb,  Mr-.  Jane  E.  Utlcy  in 
1856;  ').  Sherman  Cook,*  Emily  IX  Carpenter,  Harriet  Marion  Perkins, 
Nellie    Young   in    [857;   Orlando   M.    Laker.      Helen   Chamberlin,   Susan   M. 

Golder,  Eliza  G Irich,  Melvina  Vienna  Hawk-  in  [858;  Everett  Chamber- 

lin.*  Minnie  Hubbard,  Sarah  Ponsford,  A.  I.  Wheeler  in  [859;  Zeruiah 
Adkins,  Elvira  Chapman.  Aristine  Curtis,  Philena  Tuttle,  Flavius  Josephus 
Harrington  in  [860;  Emerson  Peet*  in  [861 ;  \.  M.  Case,*  T.  X.  Wells.* 
Helen  E  Selden  in  1862;  Charles  W.  Cutler.1  Lydia  Malvina  Aldrich,  M. 
C.  Bennett,  Mary  Holley  in  [863.  Asterisks  'lenote  principals.  Some  of 
these  teacher-  were  more  than  once  employed.  Mr.  Plumb  stayed  long 
enough  to  marrj  Laura  Young,  who  remained  after  lie  left  the  school.  Mr. 
Sibley  was  a  son  of  John  Sibley,  of  Bloomfield.  Mr.  McKee  married  Mrs. 
fjtle)       Miss   Henderson  became   Mr-.  Chipman    V    Holley;   Miss    Perkins, 


WALWORTH    COUNTYj    WISCONSIN.  _'<)5 

Mrs.  Frank  Leland;  Miss  Hawks,  Mrs.  Horace  L.  Arnold;  Miss  Aldrich, 
Mrs.  Dyar  L.  Cowdery;  Miss  Allen,  Mrs.  Alanson  H.  Barnes.  Messrs. 
Chamberlin,  Cutler  and  Harrington  were  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war. 

Loss  of  record  prevents  further  enumeration  of  subordinate  teachers, 
but  the  succession  of  principals  from  1864  to  1912  is  fully  known:  Mr. 
Cutler  in  1864,  William  Elden  1865,  Augustus  J.  Cheney  1866.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1867.  the  school  was  reorganized  with  four  grades  and  began  its 
work  with  Mr.  Cutler  at  its  head,  Charles  N.  Bell  1869  (his  term  com- 
pleted by  Orvie  G.  Taylor),  W.  A.  Delamater  1871.  Edward  H.  Sprague 
1873.  David  H.  Flett  1877,  Adelbert  I.  Sherman  1879,  Howard  L.  Smith 
1881.  F.  G.  Young  1883,  Dexter  D.  Mayne  1884.  Robert  Fayette  Skiff  1889, 
John  T.  Edwards  1890,  Charles  D.  Kipp  1894,  Thomas  J.  Jones  1900,  John 
Dixon  1907  to  1912.  Messrs.  Bell,  Flett,  H.  L.  Smith,  and  Sprague  became 
lawyers.  Mr.  Baker  has  for  many  years  been  treasurer  of  the  Merriam 
Company,  publishers  of  "Webster's  Dictionary."  At  the  opening  of  the 
public  library  he  gave  to  it  a  copy  of  that  work.  Messrs.  Mayne,  Edwards, 
and  Jones  were  called  to  higher  or  wider  usefulness  in  their  profession. 

In  1856  Edwin.  Hodges  built  at  Park  and  Church  streets  for  the  use 
of  a  select  school.  The  teacher  list  was  not  long,  and  Lorenzo  Dow  Hand, 
Harriet  M.  Perkins.  Everett  Chamberlin,  J.  F.  Mack,  and  Anna  Friend  are 
most  easily  remembered.  In  1858  Robert  M.  McKee  opened  a  school  for 
one  year,  in  Preston's  Centralia  block. 

BUSINESS  INTERESTS. 

Business  at  Elkhorn  began  in  1838  at  Mr.  Rockwell's  store,  and  by  1842 
Booth  B.  Davis  and  James  O.  Eaton  came,  each  to  add  to  increasing  trade 
the  enlivening  element  of  competition.  John  Matheson  came  about  that  time 
from  Inverness,  and  advertised  himself  as  a  fashionable  tailor.  By  [850 
his  brother,  Finley  Matheson.  advertised  a  stock  of  hats  and  caps  and  also 
first-rate  port  wine  and  brandy  for  medicine  only.  He  had  but  lately  come 
from  Demerara  and  therefore  knew  how  to  buy  medicinal  liquors  and  wines. 
Reuben  Harriman  was  making  and  dealing  in  boots  and  shoes.  Walling  & 
Son  advertised  harness-maker's  goods  and  carriage  trimmer's  works.  Ed 
ward  Elderkin,  George  Gale.  Urban  D.  Meacham,  and  VVyman  Spooner 
were  resident  lawyers.  Samuel  \V.  Henderson  and  George  II.  Young  were 
the  home  physicians.  Levi  Lee  had  Elkhorn  brick  in  any  quantity  and  of 
excellent  quality  for  sale.  At  the  end  of  bis  term  as  sheriff,  in  185 1,  Otis 
Preston  went  into  general  retail  business  with   Horace  X.   Hay  as  partner, 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

and  later  with   Benjamin    F.    Pope.      He  remained  in  a  steadily  decreasing 
business   until  his  death,   in    1890,   and  hoped   to   the  end   for  himself  and 

Elkhorn. 

There  were  other  men  in  business  before  the  dawn  of  the  railway  period, 
but  changes  were  frequent  then  as  later  and  dates  are  uncertain.  Among 
these  were  George  Bulkley  and  Edwin  Hodges,  each  of  whom  had  various 
speculative  enterprises  in  hand.  Mr.  Hodges  was  generally  prudent  and 
Mr.  Bulkley  was  sometimes  less  prudent.  The  business  career  of  each  closed  . 
in  total  failure. 

BANKS  AND  BANKERS. 

From  earliest  years  there  were  money-lenders  and  petty  brokers.  The 
demand  for  money  was  pressing  and  constant.  Two  to  three  per  cent 
monthly  was  readily  obtained,  even  when  the  security  offered  was  the  best 
that  the  time  and  place  admitted.  The  products  of  Wisconsin  as  yet  brought 
insufficient  money  from  eastern  cities,  and  a  currency  that  would  pass  within 
the  state  was  thought  much  better  than  none.  The  statute  permitted  the 
creation  of  banks  of  issue,  and  the  notes  of  these  local  conveniences  were 
based  upon  rather  than  secured  by  deposit  of  depreciated  bonds  of  other 
states,  as  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and  California.  A  few  of  these  banks,  no 
doubt,  were  of  the  "wild-cat"  variety  from  their  beginning.  Most  of  them 
became  so,  in  effect,  when  such  test  as  that  of  1857  was  applied. 

An  advertisement  in  the  Elkhorn  Independent,  in  1855,  called  for  some 
man  having  knowledge  and  experience  as  a  hanker  to  come  and  help.  David 
I).  Spencer,  of  Ilion,  Xew  York,  heard  and  answered  the  Macedonian  cry. 
and  in  the  next  year  the  Bank  of  Elkhorn,  with  capital  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars,  was  organized  with  Mr.  Rockwell  as  president  and  the  wise 
man  from  the  East  as  cashier.  One  of  the  pleasantest,  mosl  winning  fellows 
was  Spencer;  but  a  year  of  his  partnership  was  enough  for  Mr.  Rockwell. 
who  was  one  of  the  sanesl  and  safest  of  business  men.  He  retired  and  with 
his  brothers  and  brother-in-law  formed  a  private  banking  house.  Dr.  Jesse 
1  \lilU  followed  him  in  the  presidenc}  of  Spencer's  bank.  The  Doctor  was 
one  of  the  best  of  men,  bu1  singularly  simple-minded  in  business  affairs  of 
more  weight  than  those  of  a  village  retailer.  This  he  had  shown  as  a  state 
.  and  showed  again,  after  several  years,  in  an  autobiographical  sketch 
asked  of  him  for  inclusion  with  Mr.  Dwinnell's  projected  county  history. 
Such  a  man  would  be  a  bank  presidenl  very  much  to  Mr.  Spencer's  mind. 
Within  little  more  than  a  month  from  ibis  change,  and  while  the  monetary 
panic  of  thai  year  was  yet  but  a  da\   or  two  old,  the  bank  was  closed — by 


WALWORTH     COUNTY.     WISCONSIN  _'0~ 

Spencer's  neglect  to  unlock  the  front  door — without  the  demand  at  its  counter 
of  a  dollar  by  depositor  or  note-holder.  Within  a  day  or  two  more,  at  the 
demand  of  directors  and  stockholders,  the  cashier  unlocked  the  door  and, 
opening  the  old-fashioned  Herrick  safe,  he  pulled  a  drawer  and  showed 
thirty-one  big  copper  cents  and  coolly  told  his  employers  that  there  was  the 
entire  coin  asset  of  their  bank.  His  last  act  as  cashier  had  been  to  receive 
as  a  special  deposit,  from  a  widow  of  Spring  Prairie,  six  hundred  dollars 
in  gold.  He  made  such  restitution  as  his  small  interest  in  local  real-estate 
enabled,  and  was  permitted  to  go  forth  to  gain  further  experience  in  Georgia, 
in  Grundy  county.  Tllinois,  and  at  Chicago,  and  then  lived  a  few  wears,  self- 
exiled  to  Europe,  as  a  philosophical  observer  of  fiscal  systems  abroad. 

Doctor  Mills  was  followed  in  the  presidency  by  John  Alexander  Pierce 
in  1858  and  J.  Lyman  Edwards  in  1861,  and  George  Bulkley  became  cashier. 
Early  in  1865  Messrs.  Edwards  and  Bulkley,  with  William  H.  Conger,  Amos 
Fellows.  Osborn  Hand  and  Robert  T.  Seymour,  constituted  the  directorate 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Elkhorn,  into  which  concern  the  old  bank 
was  merged  with  some  changes  in  ownership.  Tn  the  fall  of  1869  it  was 
found  that  in  the  cashier's  private  speculation  he  had  made  the  bank  liable 
for  his  loss:  for  he  had  used  its  credit  in  a  manner  forbidden  by  federal 
law  and  by  the  customs  of  scrupulous  and  careful  bankers.  Mr.  Bulkley, 
whose  business  ability  had  been  estimated  rather  extravagantlv,  may  have 
Urn  judged  even  more  harshly  than  he  deserved.  It  might  seem  that  he 
was  much  the  great  loser,  for  he  lost  his  own  money  and  other  property. 
his  friends,  and  his  family.  For  nearly  a  quarter-century  he  had  been  an 
appreciable  force  in  local  business  and  in  town  affairs.  He  faced  the 
situation  squarely  until  all  possible  adjustments  had  been  made,  and  then 
went  to  Kansas;  but  it  was  too  late  to  begin  at  bottom  and  build  himself 
anew.  One  true  friend,  his  sister  Amanda,  remained  to  his  end.  She  had 
small  means  for  her  own  support,  but  was  resourceful  and  resolute,  and  she 
placed  her  abilities  at  the  service  of  the  family  which  had  cast  him  off,  and 
then  went  for  a  time  to  Kansas  to  make  a  home  for  him  and  to  give  such 
aid  and  comfort  as  a  capable  and  faithful  woman  might. 

Mr.  Conger  became  cashier  until  his  death  in  1895,  when  he  was 
followed  by  Fred  W.  Isham.  The  latter's  resignation  in  191 1  served  to 
promote  Henry  D.  L.  Adkins.  who  began  as  a  boy,  under  his  grandfather's 
wise  instruction,  to  serve  a  long  apprenticehood  in  the  business  of  banking. 
Mr.  Conger  was  son  of  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Dutchess  county,  and  was 
well  bred  to  farm  work  though  he  did  not  permanently  harden  his  hands. 
His  education  was  but  rudimentary  and  neither  that  nor  his  habit  of  life 


j,,}<  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

had  fitted  him  for  the  daily  routine  of  banker's  business.  He  was  twice 
imposed  upon  by  clumsy  forgeries,  both  of  which  were  detected  and  punished. 
But  in  1869  he  was  a  man  for  an  emergency.  Men  knew  him  as  a  man  of 
undoubted  integrity,  having  a  high  sense  of  personal  and  commercial  honor, 
a  man  of  courage  to  face  disaster,  a  fair  judge  of  real-estate  values  and 
having  a  wide  personal  acquaintance  within  the  circle  of  his  business;  and 
he  had  a  large  interest  in  the  bank.  He  was  just-minded  in  most  matters, 
public-spirited,  of  equable  temper,  and  an  excellent  neighbor.  Besides,  he 
wisely  leaned  on  Henry  Adkins,  who  served  long  and  well  as  bookkeeper 
and  teller,  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  bank's  business.  He  found  the  bank 
marly  moribund  and  left  it  sound  and  full  of  promise  of  great  length  of 
years.     Its  deposits  now  amount  to  six  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

In  1885  William  J.  Bray  and  Edmund  J.  Hooper  came  from  Palmyra, 
bought  and  fitted  a  building,  and  opened  a  banking  house,  under  the  state 
laws  The  next  year  they  admitted  to  their  partnership  Winsor  S.  Dunbar, 
John  G.  Flack,  Asa  Foster,  George  Hutton,  Robert  J.  and  Thomas  E.  Lean, 
John  Oslock.  and  Frederick  Winters,  and  formally  organized  as  the  State 
Bank  of  Elkhorn,  its  capital  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  In  1899  Thomas 
J.  Sleep  became  president.  In  1909  Mr.  Hooper,  who  from  the  first  had 
been  cashier,  retired  from  the  bank  and  Miss  Amanda  Winters,  assistant 
cashier,  served  in  his  stead.  In  1910  Mr.  Hooper  came  again  into  the  bank 
as  president  with  Laurel  W.  Swan  as  cashier.  There  are  now  twenty-seven 
stockholders.     The  deposits  amount  to  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

BRICK    AND   TILE   MAKING. 

Local  brick-yards  were  everywhere  wanted,  though  their  product  might 
be  narrowly  limited  as  to  quantity  and  far  behind  the  once  famous  Mil- 
waukeean  article  in  color  and  quality.  The  roads  were  laid  out  rather  than 
made,  and  for  half  n\  the  year  nearly  impassible  for  heav)  carriage.  There 
were  indications  of  brick-clay  in  the  western  side  of  the  village,  much  of 
which  material  was  on  Levi  Lee's  domain.  11  is  numerous  enterprises  called 
for  something  brick-shaped,  and  he  therefore  opened  a  pit  along  the  line  of 
Jefferson  street.  Some  men  have  said  that  his  clay  was  of  fair  quality  for 
its  purpose,  but  as  to  this  there  has  been  -cme  doubting,  for  the  product  of 
raried  from  rather  hard  to  the  softness  of  crayon.  Men  whose 
reverence  for  Mr.  Lee  could  nol  be  called  idolatrj  were  used  to  say  that 
at  each  firing  he  would  count  and  la)  oul  a  fixed  number  of  rails  or  sticks 
Oi   1  iod,  and  when  these  were  burned  the  bricks  were  baked.      lie  sold 

all  he  buriied  or  dried,  and  his  brick-  helped  to  build  the  village. 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  2<)<) 

When  railway  prospects  hastened  the  village  growth,  and  men  began 
to  add  each  morning  another  dollar  to  yesterday's  front-foot  price  of  their 
real  estate,  it  was  found  that  more  bricks  were  needed.  Nathan  Sexton,  who 
had  come  to  a  farm  west  of  the  village,  found  it  worth  while  to  lease  a 
bit  of  Albert  Ogden's  land  along  Walworth  street,  two  long  blocks  south- 
ward from  Lee's  works.  The  clay  was  of  better  quality,  and  Mr.  Sexton 
knew  how  to  make  brick.  Baird  &  Ogden  (the  latter  a  brother  of  the 
pioneer)  worked  this  yard  for  a  year  or  two  each  side  of  1856.  Mr.  Sexton 
resumed  the  work  with  George  Burpee  as  a  partner.  The  latter  continued 
this  industry  until  his  death  in  1876,  after  which  followed  a  period  of 
inaction. 

Edward  H.  Sprague  took  the  old  yard  in  hand  in  1886,  and  calling  his 
brother,  George  B.  Sprague,  from  Lancaster,  they  began  a  systematic  pro- 
duction of  bricks  and  drain  tiles  by  providing  coal-burning  furnaces,  engine, 
pug-mills,  engine-house,  and  sheds,  and  with  all  these  went  and  still  goes 
Mr.  Sprague's  personal  supervision.  Of  late  the  demand  for  home-made 
bricks  has  become  visibly  less  than  formerly,  but  that  for  drain-tiles  is  likely 
to  be  for  some  years  actiye. 

Edwin  Daniels  owned  or  had  invented  a  quick  process  of  leather-making 
by  the  use  of  terra  japonica.  In  1S57  William  Walker,  a  harness-maker, 
built  a  tannery,  with  six  vats,  in  East  street,  between  Court  and  Walworth. 
The  Walker  &  Daniels  leather  (mostly  sole-leather)  found  for  a  season  a  fair 
home  market.  Men  who  wore  it  found  that  whenever  it  was  wet  through 
it  stained  through  stockings  and  gave  their  feet  a  beautiful  deep  Mongolian 
complexion.  The  tannery  had  not  come  to  stay,  and  in  a  few  more  years 
the  building  was  moved  around  the  next  southward  corner  to  serve  tem- 
porarily as  a  chapel.  Its  latest  use  to  mankind  was  as  a  shop  where  William 
Allen  Barnes  wrought  with  brain  and  hand  on  his  models  for  improved  corn- 
harvesters  and  propellers  for  ocean-navigation ;  and  then  it  was  burned  in 
1902. 

George  Watson,  in  1852,  built  the  brick  shop  at  Court  and  Washington 
streets  and  made  wagons  and  buggies.  About  1855  he  gave  place  to  Josiah 
W.  Gaylord  and  Isaac  Stoner,  respectively  wheelwright  and  blacksmith  and 
both  good  workmen.  The  all-ruining  and  far-dispersing  panic  period  dis- 
solved the  firm  and  reduced  Edward  McDonald,  its  successor,  and  the  shop 
to  repair  work,  chiefly,  until  1870.  Nelson  Hanson  then  resumed  wagon- 
making  with  Frederick  Opitz  at  first  as  his  blacksmith  and  then  as  his 
partner.  This  firm,  too,  passed  away  and  a  blacksmithy  remains.  Nearly 
contemporary   with   the  brick   shop   was   the   white    shop  at    Walworth   and 


300  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Washington  streets,  built  by  Edward  Winne,  who  worked  at  nothing  but 
attempted  .several  other  enterprises,  none  of  which  returned  his  investment. 
He  employed  wrights,  smiths,  painters,  and  trimmers  until  the  business  had 
lived  out  its  short  lite.  In  1857  Bernard  Malachi  Madden  and  William  Van 
Gasbeck,  woodworkers,  George  Clary  and  Henry  J.  Shaver,  smiths,  and 
Dexter  Witter,  trimmer  and  painter,  formed  the  Elkhorn  Carriage  Company. 
They  were  good  workmen.  Madden  one  of  the  best  in  the  state,  and  they 
deserved  the  success  which  their  time  denied  them. 

In  1851  Joel  A.  Daniels  and  Moses  Hemenway,  both  of  Winnebago 
county,  Illinois,  bought  about  an  acre  of  Colonel  Elderkin's  land,  nearly 
opposite  the  fair-ground  and  on  the  margin  of  the  broad,  shallow  pond — 
now  dry  enough  for  corn  fields.  They  built  and  equipped  a  steam  grist-mill. 
but  their  capital  was  small  and  their  flour  not  of  highest  quality.  The 
property  changed  ownership  more  than  once,  and  the  mill  was  most  of  the 
time  idle,  until  i860,  when  Mr.  Hodges  leased  and  refitted  it.  George  W. 
Ellis  came  as  miller  and  in  no  long  time  as  temporary  owner.  His  was  the 
last  attempt  to  make  Hour  by  steam  power. 

I).  Mansfield  Stearns  built  and  equipped  a  wind-mill,  near  the  northern 
end  of  Wisconsin  street  in  1870.  The  breezes  were  found  too  unsteady  and 
lawless  for  profitable  use  as  mill  power.  After  him  came  Nathaniel  Pitkin, 
"a  gentleman,  sir.  and  a  scholar,  sir;  you  see,  sir."  He  ground  feed  for 
two  or  three  years,  after  which  Charles  Beetow  had  a  term  at  the  hopper. 
Then  the  wheel  was  blown  away  and  the  building  was  left  to  the  tooth  of 
time. 

About  t866  Osmer  C.  Chase,  Nathaniel  Carswell,  and  Clarence  E. 
Remer  refitted  the  steam  mill  building  for  cheese-making.  The  business  was 
continued  by  Carswell  &  Wiswell,  and  in  i88j  b)  George  X.  Wiswell.  Late 
in  [883  the  building  was  burned,  leaving  only  its  stone  foundation  and  its 
stout  brick  walls.  On  these  Waller  A.  West  began  in  January,  18S4.  to  re- 
establish a  slowly,  steadily  growing  enterprise.  In  March  he  was  ready  for 
business,  and  with  John  H.  Harris  the  firm  of  Harris  &  West  began  a 
prosperous  career.  In  [900  Miner  >\  Thompson  took  the  old  works,  and 
Harris  &  West  in  [904  began  their  works  near  the  railway  station,  and  these 
have  since  been  greatlj  extended.  The  building  was  designed  and  equipped 
Eor  latest  and  best  methods  of  making  Elgin  butter  ami  plain  and  fancy 
cheeses.      Their  little  eh-  have  reached  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  other 

11  are  not  barred  againsl  them.  The  latest  extension,  for  condensing 
milk,  is  nearly  ready  for  its  work.  This  factory  is  one  of  nine  now  owned 
by  John  II    and  George  I'..  Harris,  George  D.   Puffer  (of  Waukesha),  and 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  3OI 

Walter  A.  West,  incorporated  as  the  Wisconsin  Butter  and  Cheese  Company. 
The  estimated  value  of  the  works  at  Elkhorn  is  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 

RELIGIOUS  SOCIETIES. 

About  two  dozen  persons,  of  fourteen  families,  met  in  December,  1852, 
at  the  court  house  and  organized  a  Baptist  society,  choosing  Rev.  Thomas 
Bright  as  pastor.  He  lived  on  his  farm,  about  a  mile  from  the  park,  within 
the  town  of  Geneva,  a  circumstance  which  often  enabled  him  to  be  useful 
in  emergencies,  long  after  his  pastorate  ended.  George  W.  Gates  came  in 
1856,  Thomas  Brande  1858,  John  H.  Dudley,  Joseph  E.  Johnson  1866,  Levi 
Parmly,  Francis  M.  lams  1869,  Arthur  L.  Wilkinson  1870,  Ferdinand  D. 
Stone  1873,  George  A.  Creissey  1874,  Sylvester  E.  Sweet  1879,  Henry  A. 
Buzzell  1885,  J.  Russell  Baldwin  1892,  Charles  Carey  Willett  1896,  Henry 
Clay  Miller  1901,  Warren  Hastings  McLeod  1903,  J.  Hector  Miller  1906, 
Charles  A.  Hemenway  1908. 

For  several  years  the  Catholics  of  Elkhorn  and  its  vicinity  seemed  a 
nearly  negligible  element  of  local  religious  life,  but  good  grain  was  sown 
early  and  in  1848  Rev.  Francis  Prendergast  came  from  the  mission  at 
Delavan  to  hold  services  at  Michael  Fahey's.  Services  were  held  occasionally 
at  the  court-house.  The  parish  was  poor  but  steadfast,  and  the  general 
increase  of  population  from  1854  to  1857  brought  gain  in  numbers  to  this 
as  to  the  other  churches.  About  1861  a  lot  was  bought  at  Walworth  and 
East  streets,  and  a  disused  tannery  building  was  moved  from  a  half-block 
away  and  fitted  decently  for  temporary  use.  Thereafter  until  Rev.  John 
William  Yahev  came  in  1878  as  a  resident  priest,  the  clergy  of  St.  Andrew's 
came  fortnightly  from  Delavan  to  minister  at  the  altar  of  St.  Patrick's. 
Another  and  in  most  ways  more  desirahle  lot  had  been  bought,  at  Walworth 
and  Church  streets,  on .  which  two  large  churches  have  successively  been 
built,  the  first  one  having  been  used  twenty  years.  In  1886  Rev.  Michael 
Luby  came  for  one  year's  service,  and  in  1887  Rev.  James  Nicholas  closed 
for  the  present  the  list  of  resident  priests  of  St.  Patrick's. 

Rev.  Amnon  Gaston,  then  of  Delavan,  organized  the  Congregational 
society  at  Capt.  George  Young's  hotel,  in  1843.  ami  gave  it  part  of  his 
time  as  pastor.  David  Pinkerton  came  in  T844.  Samuel  E.  Miner  1847, 
Jedidiah  D.  Stevens  1852,  Lyman  Huggins  Johnson  1857.  John  Babson  Linn 
Soule  i860,  Stephen  .D.  Peet  1865,  Calvin  Carlton  Adams  1  [813-1906)  in 
1867,  Alba  Levi  Parsons  Loomis  i8f>8,  Peter  S.  Yan  Nest  (1813-1893)  in 
1872.    Joel    Gleason    Sabin    (1821-1897)    in    1874.    Ilanford    Fowle    1878, 


y)2  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Newton  Barrett  1881,  Samuel  Fay  Stratton  11X37-1883)  in  1883.  George 
Francis  Hunter  (1855-1891)  in  1884,  Charles  H.  Fraser  1886,  David  R 
Anderson  1890,  George  Cavanah  Lochridge  (  1845-1903)  in  1893,  Frederick 
M.  Hubbell  1900,  Jesse  F.  Taintor  1904,  Almon  O.  Stevens  1905. 

To  found  the  Episcopal  parish  of  St.  John  in  the  Wilderness  was  in 
1841  the  work  of  Revs.  James  Lloyd  Breck,  William  Adams,  a  son-in-law 
of  the  bishop,  and  John  Henry  Hobart.  all  named  often  by  the  older  mem- 
bers, though  the  last  named  is  nowhere  found  in  parish  or  public  record.  He 
was  a  son  of  the  bishop  of  his  name,  and  it  is  known  that  he  was  in  1865 
rector  of  Grace  church.  Baltimore.  Tt  is  likely  that  he  was  of  Bishop 
Kemper's  staff  of  serviceable  young  mission  workers,  sent  where  and  when 
occasion  needed.  For  many  years  rectors  at  Delavan  supplied  Elkhorn's 
frequent  need.  The  succession  of  rectors  as  shown  by  parish  books  was 
John  McNamara  in  1848  and  again  in  1858.  William  S.  Ludlum  1851.  Gerrit 
E.  Peters  1X53.  Henry  M.  Thompson  1856,  Joseph  H.  Nichols  18 — .  Joseph 
C.  Passmore  1861,  ('.  T.  Seibt,  Alexander  F.  W.  Falk,  Charles  N.  Spalding, 
George  W.  Dean  1  these  five  last  named  were  professors  at  Racine  College, 
holding  Sunday  service  between  1861  and  1S71),  George  W.  Harrod  1872, 
Edward  Huntington  Rudd  [873,  Charles  Melvin  Pullen  [875,  Henry  Hughes 
[881,  Charles  Holmes  (from  Delavan)  1882,  Luke  Paul  Holmes  1888, 
William  B.  Thorn  [892,  Edward  A.  Bazett- Jones,  1894,  Charles  N.  Spald- 
ing [896,  John  Welling  Areson  1898,  Philip  Henry  Linley  1901,  Arthur  J. 
Wescott  [904,  Elijah  Hedding  Edson  [906,  Alan  Grant  Wilson  1910,  Free- 
man Philip  O.  Reed  101  c.  Hates  indicate  beginning  of  each  rectorship.  ^.s 
in  the  other  churches,  the  pastor  was  not  always  followed  immediately  by  his 
successor. 

An  Evangelical  Lutheran  society  was  formed  in  1870  with  Rev.  Heinrich 
P.  Duborg  as  nonresident  pastor.  Rev.  Johannes  |.  Meier,  who  came  about 
[875,  brought  his  family  in  1870,  and  was  succeedad  by  Wilhelm  Buehring 
in  [879,  Johannes  Dejung  1882,  Timotheus  J.  Saner.  1886,  Carl  H.  Auerswald 
[893,  Christian  Gevers  1898  to  the  present  time.  Before  the  end  of  Mr. 
Auerswald's  pastorate  a  division  of  the  society  occurred,  and  a  new  church 
was  built  in  1898.  Its  resident  pastors  have  been  Hugo  Stubenvoll  1898, 
Karl  (  ).  Salzmann  [901,  Heinrich  Cull  1902.  Carl  Hammer  1905.  Since 
1007  the  church  service  lias  been  supplied  by  Herman  Lindemann  and 
August   Kohlhoff,  of  Burlington. 

In  [852  the  Methodist  Episcopal  society  began  its  roll  of  resident  clergy 
with  the  name  of  Joseph  C,  1 'ana.  .after  whom  John  Tibbals  1853.  D.  B. 
Vnderson    [854,    Levi    Lee    [855,    Russell    P.    I.aw'ton    1856,    Stephen    Smith 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  3O3 

1858,  Thomas  White  1859,  Horace  B.  Crandall  i860,  John  G.  Pingree  1862, 
Andrew  J.  Mead  1864,  Joseph  T.  Woodhead  1866,  David  Deal  1868, 
William  R.  Jones  1870,  Samuel  Lugg  1872,  John  L.  Hewitt  1873,  John  D. 
Cole  1874.  Wesley  Lattin  1875,  Thomas  T.  Howard  1876,  Samuel  C. 
Thomas  1877,  Norvall  Joseph  Aplin  1879,  Hiram  G.  Sedgwick  1881,  John 
Schneider  1883,  Payson  W.  Peterson  1885,  John  V.  Trenery  1887,  William  H. 
Summers  1889,  John  W.  Olmstead  1891,  Elvanlo  C.  Potter  1893,  William 
Wesley  Woodside  1890,  Mark  A.  Drew  1898,  Sidney  A.  Sheard  1900,  J. 
Thomas  Murrish  1902,  Jason  L.  Sizer  1907,  Thomas  Austin  191 1. 

Of  clergymen  remembered  as  church-builders  were  Messrs.  Barrett, 
Barry,  Bright,  Buzzell,  Dejung,  Luke  P.  Holmes.  Johnson,  Lee,  Nicholas, 
Peters,  Pullen,  Vahey,  Willet.  Mr.  Johnson  had  been  bred  to  the  use  of 
hawk  and  trowel  and  he  plastered  every  yard  of  the  ceilings  and  walls  of 
the  church  built  in  [858,  having  Bro.  Osborn  Hand  to  carry  mortar.  A 
few  years  later  he  left  the  state,  the  pulpit,  and  his  young  family.  Messrs. 
Pullen  and  L.  P.  Holmes  worked  on  church  and  rectory  with  hands  well 
hardened  to  the  use  of  saw,  plane,  hammer,  and  the  ruder  tools  of  labor. 
Fathers  Vahey  and  Nicholas  were  practical  architects,  and  Mr.  Willett  de- 
vised and  supervised  the  extensive  alterations  of  his  church.  Mr.  Lee  made 
the  brick  for  the  church  of  1856.  Mr.  Dejung  was  also  a  bee-keeper,  and 
often  sat  with  book  and  pipe  among  his  swarms.  Mr.  Barry  had  been  state 
superintendent  of  schools  and  also  chaplain  of  the  Fourth  Wisconsin  In- 
fantry. While  in  military  service  he  said  or  wrote  that  he  had  been  preaching 
universal  salvation  for  many  years,  but  was  at  last  convinced  that  hell  was 
just  then  a  military  necessity.  Messrs.  David  R.  Anderson,  Crandall, 
Cressey.  Lochridge,  Stratton,  Sweet,  and  Vahey  also  served  in  the  Civil  war. 
Mr.  Sedgwick  was  an  amateur  telescope-maker,  and  owned  a  portable  ob- 
servatory, from  which  might  be  seen  the  moons  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn.  He 
had  been  a  telegrapher,  and  was  serviceable  in  1882  as  a  "scab"  operator 
during  a  strike  of  telegraphers.  Henry  DeLancey  Webster,  Universalist, 
wrote  lyrics  for  his  namesake's  music.  Prof.  J.  P.  Webster  was  not  his 
relative,  but  he  had  W.  Lyman  Stowe  and  Mrs.  Levi  Lee  among  his  cousins. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

George  Gale,  with  Francis  Asbury  Utter,  a  printer  from  Towanda, 
Pennsylvania,  began  business  June  2,  1845,  on  the  upper  floor  of  the  Booth 
R.  Davis  (brick)  store,  with  a  half-medium  press  and  a  few  pounds  of 
type.     The  arrival  of  a  newspaper  press  was  delayed   for  five  months,  lint 


-n  |  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

the  office  began  work  at  once.  Its  first  job  was  to  print  blank  forms  for  the 
circuit  clerk's  use.  Mr.  Gale  set  about  printing  the  first  of  several  editions 
of  his  book  of  legal  forms  which  was  finished  in  the  following  April.  Friday, 
August  8,  1845,  the  Western  Star  rose  above  the  near  eastern  tree-tops,  the 
first  newspaper  in  the  county.  Seven  numbers  were  printed  with  new  type 
on  good  paper  about  the  size  of  a  quarter-sheet  auction  bill.  A  larger  press 
was  needed  and  in  November  Mr.  Gale  bought  of  Hon.  John  Wentworth 
("Long  John")  the  old  "pioneer  press"  on  which  the  Chicago  Democrat  had 
first  been  printed.  The  Star  was  then  enlarged  to  "a  wide  twenty-column 
folio."  Mr.  Gale  had  no  mind  in  indulge  in  editorship  as  a  pastime  or  as  a 
means  to  raise  himself  to  "chairs  or  seats  of  civil  power."  He  had  advanced 
the  monev  and  had  seen  the  enterprise  fairly  in  motion,  toward  success,  when 
he  sold  his  interest,  in  April,  1846,  to  his  partner's  father,  Dr.  Eleazar  R. 
Utter,  who  assumed  the  editorship.  A  few  years  later  Charles  Utter,  another 
son,  became  owner,  the  father  remaining  as  editor.  The  paper,  politically. 
was  for  Free  Soil.  About  1854  Charles  seems  to  have  retired  and  his  father 
and  brother,  having  become  administration  Democrats,  changed  the  name  of 
the  paper  to  Walworth  County  Reporter.  The  week  after  the  election  of 
1856  they  sold  their  office  equipment  to  Densmore  &  Hotchkiss  and  in  the 
next  spring  removed  to  Trempealeau  county. 

In  some  way  under  Mr.  Rockwell's  patronage  or  by  his  inducement 
Edwin  A.  Cooley  came  in  1SS4  and  for  two  years,  more  or  less,  published 
the  Walworth  County  Democrat,  and  then  went  away  into  the  mysterious 
North  or  Northwest.  Mr.  Rockwell,  the  Drs.  Henderson,  Lot  Mayo,  and 
Judge  Cowdery  were  of  that  "old  guard"  of  their  party  which  was  as 
unchangeable  as  the  laws  of  the  universe. 

In   June,    1853,    Edgar   J.    and    Alonzo    L.    Farnum,    from    a    farm    in 

leva,  put  forth  the  first  number  of  the  Elkhorn  Independent,  which  soon 

passed  into  James  Densmore's  ownership.     He  was  a  ready  writer,  but  not 

a  printer,     lie  made  the  paper  Republican,  and  kept  its  columns  free  from 

the  personalities  so  much   Frank    Titer's  editorial  stock  in  trade.      He  took 

John    Hotchkiss,  the   Reporter's    Foreman,   into  partnership  about    1855.     In 

the  spring  "t"   [857   Irl. in. 1  &    Utter  came  with  their  little  office  equipment 

im  Geneva  and  Hotchkiss,  Leland  &   Utter  having  bought  the  Densmore 

interest,  became  owners  and  editors  <>t"  the  Walworth  County  Independent. 

Utter  n  1858  and  in  February,  [861,  S    Fillmore  Bennett  came  from 

nook  in  Lake  county,   [llinois,  and  added  himself  :i-  partner  and  editor. 

end    of   the   1  nil    war    Mr.    and    Mrs.    I. eland    were   owners  and 

mtinued  in  be  until  July,   1 S74.     John  1).  Devor  emu 


WALWORTH    OirXTV.    WISCONSIN.  305 

a  dailv  paper  at  Galesburg.  Illinois,  to  ownership  and  editorship  at  Elkhorn. 
He  was  a  clear,  vigorous  writer  and  a  businesslike  manager,  neither  courting 
nor  finding  great  personal  popularity ;  but  he  gave  the  paper  some  weight 
among  Wisconsin  newspapers.  In  December,  1877,  he  sold  the  office  to 
James  Wiley  Sankey,  from  Holden,  Missouri.  Mrs.  Dora  Jemima  (Peck) 
Sankey  undertook  the  triple  labor  of  editing  the  paper,  caring  for  her  baby, 
and  nursing  her  dying  husband.  In  December,  1878,  Mr.  Sankey  died  and 
in  January,  1879.  Mortimer  T.  Park,  from  the  normal  school  at  Oshkosh, 
and  his  cousin,  Curtis  R.  Treat,  a  young  printer  from  Clinton,  took  posses- 
sion of  a  revised  and  improved  Independent.  In  July,  Mr.  Park  became  its 
single  owner.  In  January,  1882,  he  admitted  to  partnership  his  excellent 
foreman,  Eugene  Kenney,  and  in  April  of  that  year  Major  Shepard  S. 
Rockwood  bought  and  edited  the  paper  for  one  year,  when  Park  &  Kenney 
resumed  ownership.  In  1899  Francis  H.  Eames  was  added  to  the  firm. 
In  1902  Mr.  Kenney  retired;  and  in  1904  Mr.  Park  retired,  making  way  for 
the  present  firm  of  Eames  &  Snyder.  The  press  has  aforetime  been  likened 
to  a  lever  which  moves  the  world.  The  Independent's  press,  pen,  and  shears 
have  raised  three  editors  and  a  foreman  to  places  in  public  service :  Mr. 
Leland  to  a  seat  in  the  Assembly  in  1873  and  to  the  consulate  at  Hamilton, 
Ontario;  Mr.  Cowdery  to  the  county  clerkship;  Mr.  Park  to  the  assistant's 
desk  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state  (at  Madison),  1882  to  1890,  and 
to  superintendency  of  the  state's  school  at  Sparta  and  Mr.  Snyder  to  the 
postmastership  at  Elkhorn.  While  Mr.  Park  was  at  Madison  a  series  of 
substitute  editors  performed  his  work  at  the  home  desk.  Of  these  Mr. 
Dewing,  mid-84  to  the  end  of  '88,  was  the  fittest  and  most  acceptable.  Del. 
C.  Huntoon,  a  semi-Bohemian  from  the  Detroit  press-gang,  served  until  Mr. 
Park's  return,  in  1891.  He  was  a  pleasant  fellow,  fairly  versed  in  Michigan 
politics,  a  client  of  Senator  Palmer  of  that  state,  and  an  ex-inspector  of 
consular  agencies  in  Ontario,  where  he  became  a  brother-in-law  of  Rev. 
Charles  11.  Frazer,  who  was  a  clergyman,  in  turn,  of  three  denominations: 
Baptist,  Congregational,  Episcopal. 

It  may  be  noted  that  at  some  time  after  the  Civil  war  Mr.  Leland  oc- 
casionally used  a  thin  device  for  dividing  the  Delavan  paper's  patronage  in 
the  southwestern  towns.  This  was  to  print  part  of  his  edition  as  the  Darien 
News,  differing  from  his  paper  at  Elkhorn  only  in  its  heading  and  in  a 
column  of  matter,  local  to  that  village,  supplied  by  Orvellus  11.  Gilbert. 
About  1X70  he  tried  this  ingenious  plan  at  Lake  Geneva.  He  thus  hastened 
the  event  that  he  tried  to  forestall,  the  establishment  of  a  paper  permanently 
(20) 


306 


WALWORTH    COUXTV.    WISCONSIN. 


at  that  city.  His  successors  had  better  business  judgment,  and  in  1892  Park 
&  Kenney's  better  taste  restored  the  name  of  Elkhorn  Independent. 

Local  chroniclers  have  incorrectly  included  among  Elkhorn  newspapers 
the  Conservator,  of  which  one  pamphlet  number  was  published  in  1857,  and 
the  Live  Man.  which  broke  out  irregularly  between  1864  and  1868.  Both 
of  these  were  planned  and  edited  by  Otis  Preston  and  reflected  bis  extrava- 
gant faith  in  the  creative  power  of  advertising.  Both  were  printed  at  the 
office  of  the  Independent  and  might  have  been  regarded  as  special  editions 
of  that  paper,  the  Conservator  to  advertise  village  lots  at  Elkhorn  to  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  the  Live  Man  to  advertise  Elkhorn  dealers  to  all  the 
buyers  of  the  county. 

With  the  business  panic  of  1873  came  Isaac  B.  Bickford  from  Ogle 
county,  Illinois,  to  supply  the  political  cave  of  Adullam  with  a  county 
"organ."  He  brought  a  slender  stock  of  type-metal,  but  no  press.  October 
18,  1873,  and  for  twenty  weeks  thereafter,  the  IVahvorth  County  Liberal  was 
printed  on  the  Independent's  press.  Eight  weeks  later,  when  Bickford  ap- 
pealed to  the  county  committee  for  the  sinews  of  war,  that  body  decided 
to  buy  the  little  he  could  sell,  and  to  install  Beckwitb  &  Kennev  in  his  stead. 
Editorially,  the  paper  had  been  composed  of,  say,  seven  parts  Bickford, 
seventeen  parts  Spooner,  and  seventy-six  parts  Preston.  Hence,  it  seemed 
as  if  the  Live  Man  hail  been  called  back.  Preston's  peculiar  oratory, 
reduced  to  paper  and  ink,  lost  the  wizardry  of  his  vehement  delivery  and 
neither  convinced  nor  entranced  but  sometimes  puzzled  his  readers.  Gov- 
ernor Spooner  gave  the  paper  the  little  distinction  it  ever  earned.  His 
privately  spoken  criticism  of  the  new  editorship  was  caustic,  kindly,  and  not 
unprofitable.  In  the  following  summer  Henry  H.  Tubbs  was  added  to  the 
firm.  But  for  two  somewhat  memorable  events  the  later  history  of  this 
paper  is  not  in  itself  interesting. 

One  of  these  was  its  exposure  of  some  rather  excessive  severities  of 
discipline  at  the  State  School  for  the  Deaf.  Phis  was  on  information  derived 
From  three  of  the  teachers  The  published  statements,  which  made  more 
fluttering  within  the  school  and  at  three  newspaper  offices  of  the  county  than 
elsewhere,  were  investigated,  and  a  very  judiciously  prepared  report  of  the 
state  board  of  charity  and  reform  soon  restored  public  confidence  in  the 
school,  though  nobodj  was  specifically  blamed.  The  principal  resigned  at 
the  close  of  the  school  year;  but,  excepting  Rev.  Thomas  Clithero,  who  pre- 
ferred the  pulpit  to  the  school  room,  all  the  teachers  kept  their  places.  The 
principal  was  a  gentleman,  with  a  dyspeptic's  temper,  eminent  in  his  pro- 
fession,  and  he  was  quickly  called  to  further  usefulness  in  an  Eastern 
institution. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  307 

The  other  event  was  the  total  destruction  of  the  Liberal  office  building, 
uninsured,  with  all  its  contents,  also  uninsured,  by  a  fire  which  broke  out 
almost  as  suddenly  as  if  by  explosion,  at  nearly  midnight  of  July  2,  1875. 
James  R.  Browne,  of  Racine,  had  owned  the  building  and  Messrs  Perry  G. 
Harrington,  Albert  Ogden,  Stephen  G.  West,  and  Samuel  A.  White  owned 
the  hand-press  on  which  the  paper  had  been  printed.  The  publishers  ac- 
quitted themselves  of  carelessness  and  the  property  of  spontaneous  com- 
bustion. Kenney  went  to  the  Independent  office  as  its  foreman  and  in  time 
became  its  part  owner.  Tubbs  returned  to  compass,  transit  and  level.  The 
fire  had  left  nothing  but  the  name  of  the  paper  and  the  editor's  memory  of 
its  subscription-list.  Changing  the  name  to  Elkhorn  Liberal  and  making  the 
paper  Democratic,  the  Beckwiths  printed  twenty-five  numbers,  the  last  one 
dated  January  7.  1876.  From  its  beginning  this  paper  had  derived  half  of 
it-  support  from  Republican  patrons,  one  more  proof  of  the  kindly,  tolerant 
spirit  of  the  people  of  Walworth. 

An  incident  in  the  Liberal's  business  was  a  contract,  for  six  months, 
with  Rev.  George  Willis  Cooke,  then  of  Sharon,  to  print  his  Liberal  Worker 
bi-monthly.  Its  purpose  was  to  promote  a  provisional  union  or  alliance  of 
several  shades  of  unorthodox  religion  or  philosophy.  Some  of  the  ablest 
preachers  of  two  states  contributed  their  freshest  sermons,  and  the  quality 
of  its  editorship  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  Houghton  Mifflin 
Company  afterward  employed  Mr.  Cooke  as  editor  and  critical  annotator  of 
their  new  editions  of  Emerson's  and  Browning's  works,  and  of  other  modern 
classics. 

Several  members  of  the  Prohibitionist  county  organization  found  it 
expedient  to  encourage  the  establishment  of  a  newspaper  in  its  interest.  A 
stock  company  was  formed,  a  printing  office  equipped,  and  April  17,  1891, 
Charles  E.  Badger,  a  good  job  printer,  put  forth  the  first  number  of  the 
Walworth  County  Blade.  In  the  fall  of  1896  Henry  H.  Tubbs,  a  practical 
printer  and  a  stockholder,  took  upon  himself  the  duties  and  difficulties  of  the 
office,  and  afterward  acquired  its  ownership.  In  a  few  of  his  several  absences 
from  home  (in  railway  work  as  a  civil  engineer)  the  office  was  leased 
temporarily,  and  on  other  such  occasions  Mrs.  Helen  M.  A.  Tubbs  managed 
its  business  and  editorship.  Late  in  1905  the  Blade  was  discontinued  and  the 
office  was  sold  to  a  short-lived  management  which  changed  its  name  to 
Tribune  and  made  it  a  semi-stalwart  Republican  paper.  Returning  in  1906 
to  the  Tubbs  ownership,  its  material  was  sold  and  sent  out  of  the  countv. 
Hi-  war'-  experience  with  the  Liberal  hail  foreshown  Mr.  Tubbs 
clearly  that  the   Blade  could   live  only  by   his  personal   labor  and  continuous 


508  WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

self-sacrifice;  and  his  single-minded,  whole-hearted  belief  in  the  justice  of 
the  cause  thus  espoused  was  the  one  source  of  his  tenacity  of  purpose.  It 
may  well  be  doubted  if  another  person  in  the  county  would  have  carried  the 
paper  half  way  through  its  sixteenth  volume.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tubbs  closed 
their  business  without  debt  or  shadow  of  dishonor,  and  their  almost  heroic 
resoluteness,  with  their  personal  qualities,  enabled  them  to  keep  old  friend- 
ships and  to  gain  the  respect  of  men  who  were  politically  antagonistic.  Mr. 
Tubbs  once  received  the  compliment  of  a  congressional  nomination  by  his 
party. 

Town  and  village  affairs  had  been  administered  from  1846  to  1892  by  a 
board  of  three  supervisors,  and  from  1857  under  a  special  charter.  An 
election  was  held  May  3,  1892.  under  a  general  law  of  1887,  for  a  village 
president  and  a  board  of  six  trustees.  Harley  C.  Norris  was  president  until 
he  became  mayor.  The  twenty-one  citizens  who  served  as  trustees  were 
Otto  Arp  1894-5,  George  W.  Bentley  1896,  George  B.  Cain  1896,  Augustus 
F.  Desing  1893,  Charles  Dunlap  1893-7,  Egbert  Francis  1892-3,  S.  Clayton 
Goff  1892-6,  John  Hare  1897,  Fred  W.  Isham  1894-5,  John  Keeffe  1893, 
LeGrand  Latham  1892,  John  Morrissey,  of  Church  street,  1892-3,  Herman 
Nappe  1896,  Thomas  H.  O'Brien  1892.  William  O'Brien  1897,  John  J. 
Slattery  1897,  Thomas  E.  Slattery  1892.  George  B.  Sprague  1894-6,  DeWitt 
Stanford  1897,  August  Voss  1894-5,  Philip  S.  Wiswell  1897. 

Hon.  Joseph  F  Lyon  discovered  or  remembered,  in  [897,  that  chapter 
326,  laws  of  1889,  had  made  Elkhorn,  as  well  as  many  villages,  a  city  of 
tin'  fourth  class,  whereupon  an  election  for  city  officers  was  held  May  3, 
1897,  and  three  days  later  Governor  Scofield's  proclamation  completed  the 
efflorescence  from  the  village  bud  to  the  perfect  flower  of  the  city.  The 
first  board  of  aldermen  was:  First  ward,  Augustus  F.  Desing,  William 
O'Brien;  second  ward,  Samuel  I'.reese,  Jr.,  Charles  C.  Gaylord ;  third  ward, 
F.  Maxwell  Porter,  DeWitt  Stanford.     The  new   order  began  June  1,  1897. 

Chairman  oi  the  village  board  during  the  period  of  count]  commissioner 
government:  William  11.  Conger  [862,  '68-9;  Horatio  S.  Winsor  1863,  '66; 
Edwin  I  lodges  1864-5,  ()7- 

Ml  MBERS  01     t.u    \n    BOARD    FOR   VILLAGE. 

Urban  Duncan  Meacham__.       1  Horatio   Sales   Winsor 1851 

rge   Gale 1847-8  LeGrand  Rockwell 1852-3 

Dr.   Eleazer  R.   1  ttei  1849  Otis   Preston 1854-5.  '59 

George  Henrj    Young         1850  Alvah    I.    Frost 1856 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN: 


309 


Dr.  Jesse  Carr  Mills 1857 

John  Flavel  Brett 1858 

Edwin  Hodges 1860-1 

Christopher  Wiswell T870-1,  '80 

Wyman   Spooner 1872 

Ely  Bruce  Dewing 1873-6 

Lucius  Allen 1877.  '81 

Osmer   C.    Chase 1878 

Dr.   William   Henry  Hurlbut__  1879 


William    James    Stratton 1882-4 

George   Washington    Wylie 1885 

John  Matheson 1886^9 

Edward  Harvey  Sprague 1890 

Harley  Cornelius  Xorris [891-2 

George    Matheson 1893 

Abraham  Cranston  Norton__  1894-5 
John    Harrison   Harris 1896 


COUNTY    MEMBERS    FOR   CITY. 

First  Ward — John  II.  Hani-.  [897-8;  Edmund  J.  Hooper,  [899-1907, 
1910:  James  Matheson.  1908-9,  1911  ;  Arthur  ( r.  ( Iroesbeck  1912. 

Second  Ward — Joseph  F.  Lyon.  [897;  George  E.  Pierce,  [898,  ojoo: 
Walter  E.  Lauderdale.  1899;  S.  Clayton  Goff,  [901-4;  Henry  De  L  Adkins, 
[905-8;  L'harle-  II.  Nott,   1 909-1 1 ;  Walter  A.  West,   [912. 

Third  Ward — Dr.  George  H.  Young,  1897-8.  1904:  Thomas  E.  Slattery, 
[899-1901,  1906;  Edward  H.  Sprague.  [902-3,  1905:  Hiram  X.  Stubbs, 
10117-8:  Charles  Freligh,   [909;  Henry  De  L.  Adkins,  1910-12. 

Mayors:  Harley  C.  Xorris.  1897,  1902;  John  Dunphy  (elected).  [898; 
DeWitt  Stanford.  [898;  Dr.  George  H.  Young,  [899,  [906;  Dr.  William  II. 
Hurlbut,  [900;  George  Edmund  Pierce.  1901;  Jay  Wright  Page.  [904;  S. 
Clayton  Goff,  [908,  [910;  Herbert  Eugene  Hartwell,  1912.  Mayor-elect 
Dunphy  declined  service  and  Mr.  Stanford,  as  president  of  the  council,  acted 
for  the  year.  The  first  five  elections  were  for  one-year  terms.  Tn  1902  and 
since  the  official  term  has  been  two  years.  Messrs.  Dunphy,  Page  and 
Young  are  Democrats.  A  health  officer,  city  clerk,  street  commissioner,  weed 
commissioner,  marshal,  six  school  commissioners  and  nine  library  directors 
are  appointed  by  the  mayor  with  consent  of  the  council. 

ASSOCIATE  SUPERVISORS. 


Lester  Allen 1862-3,   '66 

Lucius    Allen 1874 

Alonzo    Angel 185 1 

Delos   Brett 1857 

George    Bulkley 1864-5,    '67 

Hiram    Shubael    Bunker 1869 

Nelson  Catlin 187  1 


William     I  lenry    Conger  [860  1 

Augustus    F.    Desing 1890-1 

Ely  Bruce    Dewing 1X70 

\mov    Eastman 1859 

Julius  Lyman  Edwards 1868 

Edward  Elderkin 1858-9 

Dr.  Chester  F.  EHsworth___  1875-6 


3io 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Egbert  Francis 1892 

William  Oakley  Garfield— 1849,  53, 

'55-6 

Sidney  Clayton  Goff 1891-2 

Daniel  Parmelee  Handy 1852 

John    Hare-— -1879 

Robert  Harkness 1867 

Rufus  Dudley  Harriman__i878,  '84 

Horace  Noble  Hay 1846,  '49 

John  \V.    Hayes 1881 

Robert   Holley 1858 

Benjamin  Blodgett  Humphrey.  1863 

George  Humphrey 1848 

Fred  Willard  [sham 1886-8 

David  R.  Johnson 1866 

Mollis  Latham 1872,  '-",  '80, 

'82,  '84. 
fames  Henry  Lauderdale — 1 871,  '75 

Wilson  David  Lyon 1883 

Lot  Mayo 1848/53 


Thomas  W.  Miller 1852 


John  Morrissey 1!5°5 

Harley  Cornelius  Norris 1886-9 

John  Ashe  Norris 1869 

1847,  "50 


.1846,  '55-6 


Albert  Ogden 

Zenas  < )gden  

John  Adams  Perry 1879 

Dwight  Preston 1883 

Harley  Flavel  Smith 1854,  '60-2 

Israel  Smith 1870 


DeWitt  Stanford 1877-8 

Squire  Stanford- 1857,  '68,  '72-3,  '82 

Cyrus  Cortland  Stowe 1850-1 

William  James  Stratton_i88o-i,    90 

Charles  Wales 1885 

Walter  Aaron  West 1889 

Horatio  Sales  Winsor — 1854.  '64-5 

Christopher  Wiswell 1873-4.  '76 

Dr.  George  Henry  Young 1847 


CLERKS  OF  VILLAGE  AND  CITY. 


Edward  Elderkin [846 

Edward    Winne 1847 

[  h    Samuel  Wirt  Henderson     [848 

Eli  Kimball   Frost 1849 

William  Harrison  Pettit 1850 

Alvah  J.  Frost    1851-3 

Myron  Edwin  Dewing     1854-5 

1  harli     I  laniel  Handy  [856 

I  lcnr\  Bradle)      [857  8,  60  2,  '65  6, 

'69  72 

I  liarles   Lyon 1859 

irts  C   Ste>  ens     1863 

I  1 .  !  1 1\     \dkins [86  1 

eph  S.   f.   Eaton 1867 

John    K.    Burbank 1868 

Oj    en       [873,  '76,  '80  1 


Edward    Marshall    Latham. 1 874-5, 

'82-3 

1  liarles  James  Stratton 1884 

Sidney  Clayton  Goff 1885 

John  Dunphy 1886-7 

( lharles  Cor  I  raylord 1888-9 

Jay  Forrest  Lyon 1890-5 

Henry  De  Lafayette    \dkins_  1896-8 

Will  Bartle  Lyon 1899 

foseph  Hayden  Webster 1900 

George  B.  Sprague 1901 

Will  E.  1  >unbai  1902 

William  Opitz  1904 

Harlej  C.  Norris   1908 

Philip  Sheridan  Stewart 1912 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


HI 


TREASURERS. 


Edwin  Hodges 1846 

Alexander  S.  Brown 1847 

Amplias  Chamberlin 1848 

George  Bachelder  (app. ) 1848 

Henry  Hobart  Hartson_'49-5i,   53, 

'53 

Hollis  Latham 1852 

Myron  Edwin  Dewing 1854-5 

David  R.  Johnson 1856 

John  L.  Holley 1857 

Zebina  Houghton J859 

Alexander  Stevens 1 860-1 

Phineas  C.  Gilbert 1862-7 

Joseph  S.  J.  Eaton 1868-9 

Waldo  W.  Hartwell 1870-1 


Dvar  Lamotte  Cowderv li 


■72-3 


John  Cromlev T874-J 


Charles  Lyon 1878-9 

Harley  C.  Norris 1880-4 

Samuel  Mitchell 1885-6 

Charles  Frank  Graff 1887 

Orland  Carswell 1888-9 

Silas  Rockwell  Holden 1890-1 

Arthur  Tripp  Waterbury 1892 

LeGrand  Latham 1893 

George  Henry  Farrar 1894 

George  A.    Burpee 1895-6 

W.   Christopher  Nuoffer 1897-8 

George  B.  Sprague. 1899- 1900,  '02-3 

Francis    Maxwell    Porter 

1901.  '04-07 

Philip  Sheridan  Stewart 1908- 11 

Will    Slattery 19 12 


JUSTICES  OF  THE   PEACE. 


Levi  E.  Allen 1888-9 

Lucius  Allen 1880-1 

William  Bell 1866-7 

Henry   Bradley 1861-74 

William  Worth  Byington 1880-1 

Arthur  Clohisy 1897-1912 

Horatio  Seymour  Dunlap 1881 

Stephen  R.  Edgerton 1896-7 

James  Ervin  Fuller 1888-1912 

Robert  Holley 18605 

John   Peter  Ingalls 1889-91 

Hollis  Latham 1859-63,  '77-8 

Levi    Lee 1867-8 

Of  the  justices  for  this,  as  for  other 
each  year,  between  1846  and  1859,  none 


Joseph  Foster  Lyon 

'79-80,  '82-3,  '85-98,  1901-2 

Samuel  Lytle 1905-8 

John  Matheson 1884-5 

Lot   Mayo 1859-60 

Samuel   Mitchell 1893-6 

John  Adams  Perry 1870-84 

William  Harrison  Pettit 1860-4 

Harley   Flavel  Smith 1N71  </ 

George  1!.  Sprague J892-3 

Charles  Wales 1884-7,  '9I_4 

Curtis  I  lusted  W'insor 1870-1 

George  Edw  in  Wood  1007-12 

George   Washington   Wylie__  1895-6 

towns,  two  of  whom  were  chosen  in 
filed  credentials  at  the  circuit  clerk's 


rj2  WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 

office.  Hence,  the  officers-elect  who  qualified  within  that  period  are  only 
determinable  in  part  and  that  from  a  great  mass  of  loose  papers. 

In  fifteen  years,  1897  to  1911,  inclusive,  the  citizens  named  have  served 
as  aldermen:  First  ward — Aug.  F.  Desing.  Charles  Dunlap.  William  E. 
Clough,  George  Kinne,  Nathaniel  Carswell.  Herbert  E.  Hartwell,  Timothy 
Calahan,  Dr.  James  M.  Marsh.  Fdw'd  Morrissey,  Fred'k  Winter.  W.  Chr. 
Yin  il'fer :  sccmid  ward — Sam'1  Breese.  Ch.  C.  Gaylonl.  Abr.  C.  Norton.  Geo. 
W.  Wylie,  Walter  A.  West.  Geo.  H.  Farrar,  Albert  J.  Reed.  John  Keeffe, 
Edw'd  P.  Ellsworth,  J.  Matt.  Xiessen.  Henry  J.  Noblet,  John  H.  Lauderdale. 
Michael  Slattery,  Michael  Fay;  third  ward — F.  Max  Porter,  DeWitt  Stan- 
ford, Herbert  E.  Hartwell.  John  Morrissey,  Aha  J.  Rlanchard,  Ch.  Pieplow, 
Rudolph  H.  Hoffman,  John  11.  Snyder,  Jr.,  Thos.  Keeffe.  Fred'k  J.  Smith. 
Win.   Morrissey. 

Postmasters  for  Elkhorn  have  been  LeGrand  1\  ckwell,  1838;  Edwin 
rlo  ges,  [849:  Lot  Mayo,  1853;  Henry  Bradley,  1861 ;  Wilson  D.  Lyon, 
1886:  Henry  Bradley,  1890;  Albert  C.  Beckwith,  1894;  Thomas  William 
Morefield,  [898;  John  11.  Snyder.  Jr.,  tqii.  In  July.  1874.  the  office  was 
placed  in  the  third  class,  but  important  changes  in  postage  rate-  reduced  it  in 
July,  [875,  to  the  fourth  class.  It  became  a  third  class  office  in  July.  [882, 
and  a  second-class  office  in  [907.  In  1908  a  ten-year  contract  of  the  depart- 
ment with  Edward  IT.  Sprague  removed  it  to  its  present  place,  at  Walworth 
and  Broad  streets.  This  office  is  the  center  of  seven  free  deliver)  routes. 
which  so  operated  as  to  discontinue  the  postoffkes  at  Cowers,  Fayetteville. 
Jacobsville,  Lauderdale,  Millard  and  Tibbets,  and  to  divide  with  Lake  Geneva 
routes  the  business  of  Como  and  East  Delavan. 

PUBLIC   I    IN  I  I  IKS. 

For  man)  years  it  was  generally  felt  that  the  village  would  be  nearly  help- 
less in  case  of  any  considerable  fire.  \.bout  [892  a  rather  loosely  presented 
proposition  1-.  provide  one  or  more  public  wells  was  rejected  at  a  special  elec- 
tion In  [894  the  village  board,  acting  on  its  own  judgment,  employed  F.  M. 
Gray,  of  Milwaukee,  to  drill  at  the   fool  of  Broad  street,  near  the  railway 

n.  This  work  was  finished  earl)  in  [895,  an  exhaustless  supply  of  pure 
been  found  at  1.050  feet.  Passing  through  the  drill  the  drill 
mel  Cincinnati  shale  ai  225  feet,  Trenton  limestone  at  412  feet,  Si  Peter's 
sandstone  at  665  feet,  Magnesian  limestone  at  700  feet,  Potsdam  sandstone  at 
950  feet,  red  sandstone  at  [,025  feet,  and  thence  in  that  stratum  25  feel  to  the 
bottom  of  the  boring.    Watei  rose  to  a  point  147  feet  below  the  surface. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  313 

At  a  special  election,  June  4,  [895,  it  was  decided  by  two-thirds  of  the 
voters  to  issue  honds  to  the  amount  of  eighteen  thousand  dollars  for  construc- 
tion and  equipment  of  a  system  of  water  works.  N.  F.  Reichert,  of  Racine, 
began  July  gth  the  work  of  building  power  house  and  stand  pipe,  and  of  laving 
street  mains.  All  this  led  to  reorganization  of  old  firemen's  companies,  and 
President  Norris  named  Clarence  N.  Byington,  George  B.  Cain,  Aug.  F. 
Desing.  Will  G.  Fowlston,  S.  Clayton  Goff.  Herbert  E.  Hartwell,  David 
Lowrv,  Will  P>.  Lyon.  Alonzo  C.  and  Vernon  H.  McKinstry,  Will  E.  Magill, 
John  Morrissey,  John  and  Will  Morrissey,  W.  Chr.  Nuoffer,  Will  O'Brien, 
Jr.,  Albert  J.  Reed.  John  Russell.  Frank  H.  Stafford,  with  instruction  to  form 
a  hose  company.  This  body  was  increased  later  to  fifty  men.  and  then  divided 
into  two  hose  companies  and  a  hook  and  ladder  company.  The  chiefs  of  the 
fire  department,  since  [897,  have  been  Will  B.  I. von,  F.  Maxwell  Porter, 
George  O.  Kellogg,  Will  Morrissey,  Will  E.  Magill,  Fred  B.  Magill,  George 
E.  Burpee,  George  II.  Farrar,  Michael  Morrissey,  and,  at  present.  Will  E. 
Magill  again  This  department  quickly  became  efficient  for  service,  and  also 
for  competitive  drilling  at  various  points  in  the  state.  The  Magills  have  won 
personal  distinction  on  these  latter  occasions. 

In  1898  it  was  determined  at  another  special  election  to  light  the  streets 
with  electric  lamps,  under  city  ownership  of  the  system.  Bonds  were  issued 
to  the  amount  of  ten  thousand  dollars.  Both  these  and  the  water  bonds  were 
taken  at  home  and  at  a  small  premium.  In  1907  the  council  created  an  electric 
light  and  water  commission  of  five  members  for  management  of  these  public 
utilities,  the  mayor  and  one  alderman  with  three  citizens  not  of  the  council. 
The  first  and  only  appointed  members  were  John  11.  Harris.  Jay  W.  Page  and 
Charles  Pieplow. 

A  public  library  was  among  the  good  things  of  which  Judge  Gale  and 
other  men  of  184O  had  dreamed.  A  few  wretched  attempts  were  made,  from 
time  to  time  for  a  half  century,  to  create  such  an  institution.  In  lanuarv. 
[900,  Edward  II.  Sprague,  then  about  to  improve  bis  lots  at  Walworth  and 
Broad  streets,  called  a  meeting  at  his  public  hall  in  order  to  disclose  his 
matured  plan  for  a  practically  fire-proof  building  which  should  serve,  among 
other  uses,  for  an  "opera  house"  and  a  library  room.  On  petition  of  a  large 
majority  of  citizens  the  city  council  passed  an  ordinance  to  establish  such  a 
library  and  contracted  with  Mi'.  Sprague  for  the  use  of  a  specially  prepared 
second  floor  in  part  of  his  building  for  a  term  of  lifts  years. 

Charles  Edward  Sprague  (1871-1892),  the  namesake  of  this  library, 
was  eldest  son  of  the  owner  of  the  building,  lie  was  his  father's  confidential 
friend,  and  the  two  had  day-dreamed  together  of  plans    for  making  such  an 


3*4 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


institution  at  Elkhorn  practicable.  Mr.  Sprague  contributed  about  one  hun- 
dred volumes,  of  his  own  selection  and  of  permanent  value.  Besides  these  and 
seven  hundred  volumes  from  the  government's  printing  office,  the  library  was 
opened  September  2,  1901,  with,  say  two  hundred  and  fifty  books  acceptable 
to  general  readers,  and  bought  by  public  subscription.  A  few  weeks  later 
Presidenl  Dewing,  of  the  directory,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  Miss  Melvina, 
his  sister,  gave  six  hundred  and  fifty  volumes  from  the  private  collection  of 
their  brother.  Myron  E.  Dewing.  These  are  shelved  together  as  the  "Dewing 
Collection,"  and  are  still  a  most  valuable  part,  as  to  their  contents,  of  nearly 
four  thousand  volumes  now  in  possession.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Dixon  Dewing  has 
since  added  about  fifty  volumes  to  the  original  collection.  A  few  years  ago 
the  "public  documents"  were  turned  over  to  the  County  Historical  Society. 

This  library  was  instituted  under  statutory  sanction.  In  1900  Mayor 
Hurlbut  appointed  a  board  of  directors:  Mrs.  Anna  W.  M.  Flack,  Mrs. 
Carrie  E.  Medbery,  Alonzo  C.  McKinstry,  for  one  year;  Miss  Jesse  L. 
Sprague,  Jay  F.  I. yon.  Albert  C.  Beckwith.  for  two  years;  Ely  B.  Dewing. 
Jay  W.  Page,  John  II.  Harris,  for  three  years;  Miss  Sprague,  Beckwith  and 
Page  are  still  members;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Stanton  Forbes.  Fred  W.  Isham,  Dr. 
Edward  FCinne  have  been  members;  and  Miss  M.  Medora  Hurlbut.  Mrs. 
Catharine  Monahan  Porter,  Orland  Carswell,  Will  E.  Dunbar,  Grant  D.  Har- 
rington and  Charles  H.  Nott  are  of  the  present  board.  The  presidents  have 
been  Dewing,  Page,  I. yon  and  Harrington.  The  librarian  was  Mae  Irene 
Ferris,  and  is  Edna  Lorene  Derthick. 

A  chapter  of  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  was  instituted  in 
1010.  with  Margarel  Medora  Hurlbut  as  regent.  She  was  succeeded  in  ign 
by  Mrs  Ruth  Eliza  (Wales)  [sham.  There  are  fourteen  members,  and  many 
eligibles  live  within  the  chapter  jurisdiction. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  village  a  little  burial  ground  was  set  off  in  Wiscon- 
sin street,  near  North  street.  This  was  soon  abandoned  and  a  new  ccmc- 
terv  was  badly  laid  out  at  the  eastern  end  of  Court  street.  This,  too.  has  been 
vacated  and  its  area  added  to  the  fair  ground,  In  1 S74  a  few  really  public- 
spirited  citizens  moved  to  far  better  purpose.  The  ground  was  bought,  near 
the  western  end  of  Jefferson  street,  and  was  named  Hazel  Ridge.  William 
M.  R  French,  landscape  architect,  of  Chicago,  made  the  plan,  which  nature. 
time,  and  human  ran   have  beautified.     Its  present  area  is  about  thirty-four 

The  firsl  board  of  trustees  was  composed  of  Orland  Carswell.  William 
II.   1  onger,    David    R.  Johnson,   William  Thomas  Jones.   Jacob   Ketchpaw, 

II.   Lauderdale,   Wilson   D.    Lyon,  Squire  Stanford  and   Stephen  G. 
West.     The  several  presidents  of  this  board  have  been  West.  Ketchpaw.  Lau- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN'.  315 

derdale,  Conger,  Lucius  Allen  and  Carswell.  Superintendents:  Jones,  Henry 
D.  L.  Adkins  and  Harley  C.  Xorris.  Secretaries:  Johnson,  Dyar  L.  Cow- 
den-,  S.  Clayton  Goff.    Treasurers :  Conger,  Jones,  Lyon  and  Adkins. 

The  population  of  Elkhorn  in  1850  was  42  ;  at  later  census  :     i860,  1,081  ; 
1870.  1.205;  :88o.  1. 122;  1890,  1,447;  1900,  1,731;  1910,  1,707. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

TOWN   OF  GENEVA. 

At  the  first  legislative  naming  of  the  towns  of  Walworth  the  southeastern 
quarter  of  the  county  took  its  name  from  the  lake  which  Mr.  Brink  had  re- 
christened  in  1835,  and  from  the  village  which  began  its  growth  the  next 
year.  I  le  disliked  such  uncouthness  as  "Big  Foot,"  and  his  ear  was  untrained 
to  the  Algonquin  euphony  of  Gee-zihig-waw-gid-dug-gah-bess ;  but  he  found 
in  the  scene  about  him  some  reminder  of  Seneca  lake,  with  Geneva  at  its  foot. 
Since  the  lake  before  him  was  so  much  smaller  than  the  village-bordered 
eastern  water,  one  name  might  serve  very  well  for  the  lake  that  always  had 
been  and  the  village  about  to  be.  He  chose  very  well,  since  he  might  have 
chosen  so  much  worse.  He  might  have  given  his  own  name  to  the  lake,  and 
he  had  warrant  of  familiar  examples  for  some  such  polysyllabic  majesty  as 
"  Megapi  idopolis." 

The  towns  of  Bloomfield,  Hudson  and  Linn  were  set  off  by  one  legisla- 
tive act,    human   23,   [844,  each  for  its  home  rule,  leaving  the  name  Geneva 
to  town  2  north,  of  range  17  east.     Nearly  three  hundred  acre-  of  sections  35, 
56  lie  beneath  the  bay-like  foot  of  Geneva  lake,  and  nearly  a  thousand  acre- 
are    (or   have   been)    covered   by   Duck    lake    (which    Thomas    McKaig   new- 
named  "(.Minn").     In   [846  the  newer  town  of  Elkhorn  took  away  section  6, 
\s  a  small  offset  to  all  this  subtraction,  the  city  of  Lake  1  leneva  includes  about 
1,   e  acres  of  section  3]  of  Lyons,  and  is  likely  enough  to  take  part  of  section 
1  of  Linn  at  no  very  distant  time.     The  outlet  of  the  larger  lake,  called  White 
river,  quickh  leaves  Geneva  to  cross  Lyons  and  join  the  Fox  at   Burlington. 
The  outlet  of  Luck  lake  is  a  branch  of  White  river,  which  it  meets  in  section  20 
of  Lyons,  having  left  section  26  and  crossed  sections  23,  J|  of  Geneva  and 
section    mi  of   Lyons.      Luck  lake   is  about   three  miles  long  and   its  average 
width  is  more  than  a  half  mile.     It  was  much  wider  within  the  memorj   ot 
man.  but  much  of  its  marsh)  border  is  now  mown      Jackson's  creek  in  section 
;.  near  the  Lafayette  line,  drams  sections  ro,  9,  8,  17.  7  and  flows  south  of 
I  horn  to   Delavan  lake.      fish  are  caught   near  its  mouth,  and  cattle  drink 
ng  its  threadlike  course.     The  surface  of  the  town,  excepting  the  basin  of 
Dick  lake  and  the  rather  broad  valley  of  its  outlet,  is  generalh    high  prairie 
and   opening,   with   some   knobbineSS  near  the   northeastern   corner,   the   south- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  317 

western  sections,  between  the  lakes,  and  about  the  city.  The  highest  point  in 
the  county  is  near  the  northwestern  corner  of  section  19,  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  forty-nine  feet  above  sea  level,  which  slopes  easily  to  the  lower 
levels  adjacent.  Several  years  ago  the  geodetic  surveyors  made  this  point  a 
signal  station. 

The  northern  and  central  sections — much  the  greater  part  of  the  town 
—are  among  the  most  fertile  of  the  county  and  were  settled  early  by  compe- 
tent and  prosperous  farmers,  stock  raisers  and  dairymen.  The  somewhat 
rougher  sections  were  once  heavily  wooded,  but  are  now  cleared  and  culti- 
vated. The  county  poor  farm  spreads  over  nearly  two-thirds  of  section  4.  In 
section  24  are  a  church,  town  hall,  and  store,  for  a  few  years  a  cheese  factory 
(its  business  now  transferred),  a  postoffice  from  1896  until  discontinued  by 
the  establishment  of  a  rural  delivery  route  from  Lake  Geneva.  This  incipient 
village  is  still  named  Como.  John  Chase's  cheese  factory,  in  section  10,  in 
active  operation  for  many  years,  has  been  absorbed  by  the  Wisconsin  Butter 
and  Cheese  Company.  About  1837  Christopher  Payne  built  a  dam  and  saw 
mill  at  Duck  lake  outlet  and  sold  it  to  George  W.  Trimble,  his  son-in-law,  who 
sold  it  to  Dr.  Oliver  S.  Tiffany.  With  the  coming  of  pine  lumber  the  mill  fell 
into  disuse,  decay  and  forgottenness.  In  1858  a  rloocl  carried  away  the  relics 
and  the  dam,  lowering  the  lake  and  laying  bare  many  acres  of  marsh  meadow. 
The  forlorn  looking  cuts  and  dumps  of  the  old  Wisconsin  Central  Railway 
Company  are  yet  to  be  seen,  yet  a  little  more  strongly  marked  than  the  Indian 
mounds.  Their  course  was  across  sections  36,  25,  26,  23,  14.  1  r.  10,  9,  8,  5 
to  the  Elkhorn  line.  In  1-911-12  agents  or  operators  were  buying  or  in  other 
way  acquiring  a  few  real  or  shadowy  rights  of  way  along  this  line  for  a 
proposed  electric  railway  from  Lake  Geneva  to  Whitewater.  New  hope  has 
been  raised,  and  though  nothing  substantial  is  assured,  old  and  new  hope  may 
soon  end  in  fruition. 

The  whole  area  of  improved  land  in  1910  was  1 9,413  acres,  valued  at 
$1,584,500;  average  value  per  acre.  $81.62.  Acreages  of  principal  crops, 
1910,  were:  Barley.  093;  corn,  3,073;  hay  field,  2,947  '•  ";lts-  -MS1  '■  orchard. 
[38;  potatoes,  104:  rye.  54;  timber,  2,425;  wheat,  82,  Returns  of  live  stock 
were:  3,064  cattle.  $79,100;  686  hogs  $6,900;  759  horses,  $62,000;  59] 
sheep.  $2,000.    Valuation  of  town.  3.596  per  cent,  of  thai  of  whole  county. 

Population  of  town  (including  village,  in  [850  and  [860);  [850,  1.557; 
[860,  2.272:  1X70.   1.030:  [880,930;  [890,   [,073;   [900,   i.i'ii:   [910,   1.142. 

Patents  issued  from  the  land  office  in  the  following  named  persons  are 
recorded  at  the  county  seat:  Alanson  ('lark  Well,  section  2^,;  Harrison 
Augier,   1.   12:  William    Werill.   17:  John  S.   Bacon,  2:   Lewis   Baldwin,  29; 


Jl8  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

[ohn  Barr,  Sr.,  10,  15;  Hiram  Beals,  30;  Anson  Bell,  11;  James  Alexander 
Bell,  4;  Joseph  Bennett,  14;  Daniel  S.  Benton,  3,  9,  10;  Charles  Boyle,  12,  13; 
Daniel  Edwin  Bradley.  7:  Milo  Edwin  Bradley,  1;  Deodat  Brewster,  1;  Ar- 
thur Bronson,  34;  Charles  P.  Brown.  29;  John  Brown,  33;  Amos  and  Hiram 
Cahoon,  1  1  :  Amos  Cary,  35;  George  and  Simon  Williams  Clark,  35;  George 
Coburn,  [9;  Louis  Leander  Cook,  4;  Seth  Cowles,  9,  15;  Lewis  Curtis,  28; 
Charles  Dickerman,  18;  Samuel  Dunbar,  7:  John  Dunlap,  10,  n;  Baronet  V. 
Eckerson,  30;  Ephraim  P.  S.  Enos,  20;  John  Evans,  32;  Andrew  Ferguson, 
26;  John  Powell  black  and  Thomas  Flack,  3 ;  Richard  Baker  Flack,  9;  George 
Gale,  3;  Ludwig  Giese,  32;  Samuel  Gott,  24:  Elihu  Gray.  9;  Alvah  Grow,  3; 
Daniel  I'annelee  Handy,  30;  Noah  Harriman,  14;  Edmund  Storrs  Harvey, 
13,  18:  John  Haskins,  26;  Alonzo  Herrick,  9;  Jacob  Herrick,  21;  William 
I).  Ilolbrook,  31  ;  Mason  A.  llollister.  32;  Harvey  Houghton,  30;  John  Hut- 
ton.  19;  Seth  W.  Kelley,  10;  Jacob  Kenel.  2.1;  George  Lamberson,  4;  James 
Lewis,  13:  Thomas  McKaig,  25;  Gurdon  Saltonstall  Murdock.  18;  Joseph 
Musgrave,  21;  Cyril  Leach  Oatman;  Zenas  Ogden.  1,  21;  Jasper  William 
Peat,  7;  Anthony  Peck,  10:  Jason  Peck.  9;  John  R.  Peck.  2;  William  Pent- 
land,  7;  Eveline  H.  Porter,  1  ;  Langdon  Cheves  Porter,  u  ;  Newton  Rand,  27: 
Alanson  C.  Reed,  23;  Leland  M.  Rhodes,  15;  Brittain  Ross.  15;  Morris  Ross, 
1  |.  15;  William  Pangburn  Ross,  22;  William  Rounds.  19;  Nehemiah  Rouse, 
10;  Adam  Martin  Russell,  17;  Robert  Emmett  Russell.  24:  Daniel  Ryan.  34: 
John  Carpenter  Schuyler,  25;  Hiram  Spencer,  19;  Oliver  P.  Standish,  10: 
Edward  Stevens,  13:  Sanford  Wait.  12;  Greenleaf  Ste\ens  Warren,  3:  Rob- 
ert Wells  Warren,  4.  ^,2,  35;  Joseph  Webb.  8;  George  Weller.  35;  Barton 
Brenton  Wilkinson,  13:  Israel,  Sr..  and  Royal  Joy  Williams,  31:  Silas 
Wright.  23. 

William  Averill  married  Eliza  Monahan,  March  2,  1N44. 

fohn  Barr  1  [792  [860),  son  of  Allen,  came  From  Scotland  with  wife 
Barbara  Black,     lie  died  in  Linn,  to  which  town  he  had  removed. 

Hiram  Beals  1  [809  [880)  was  son  of  Daniel  Beals  (bom  1767)  and 
Hannah  Wheat  1  horn  1770),  and  grandson  of  Richard  Beals;  came  in  1843 
from  Cummington,  Massachusetts,  to  section  30,  Geneva,  with  wife  Rebecca 
1  iris;  (1812  [883),  daughter  of  William  and  Rebecca  \xtel.  who  were 
cousins 

Charles  Boyle  (died  [869)  married,  second.  Marjory  Brown,  October 
24.  [841. 

Deodal  Brewster  I  C789  t88i  l,  a  native  of  Connecticut ;  wife  named  Lois 
1872);  had  several  descendants  in  North  Geneva. 

\nio-,  Cahoon   1  [789  [860)  ;  married  Mary  Williams   1  [796  [874 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  319 

George  Coburn  (1810-1897)  married  Charity  (1S07-1897),  daughter  of 
John  and  Margaret  Reichard,  both  of  Livingston  county,  New  York.  He 
lived  for  long  across  the  town-line  road  in  section  24,  Delavau,  and  died  at 
Elkhorn. 

Samuel  Dunbar  (1806-1872)  came  from  Belfast  in  1833  to  New  York; 
to  Geneva  1839;  married,  first,  Elizabeth  Thompson  1  [809-1852);  second, 
Mrs.  Mary  (McDougall)  Streeter.  His  family  seems  to  have  become  per- 
manent in  the  countv. 

John  Dunlap  (1796-1879)  was  son  of  Robert,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  Mary  Letts.  He  married,  first,  Cynthia  Kinne,  who  was  mother  of 
his  children;  second,  Hannah,  daughter  of  Samuel  Armstrong  and  Mary 
Gregg. 

Ephraim  P.  S.  Enos  died  March  20,  i860,  leaving  wife  Polly,  daughter 
of  Melzer  Dinsmore. 

Daniel  P.  Handy's  will  was  dated  March  4,  1868,  and  proved  June  25, 
same  year.  He  married  successively  Maria  and  Lydia  Wheat  Beals.  daugh- 
ters of  Hiram  Beals  and  Hannah  Wheat.    Lydia  W.  died  in  1868. 

Noah  Harriman  (1805- 1903)  married  Lucinda  Davis  in  1826, — both  of 
Vermont.  He  lived  for  several  years  in  Lafayette  and  died  at  Elkhorn.  He 
was  a  farmer  and  a  licensed  exhorter  of  the  Methodist  church. 

Edmund  S.  Harvey  (1819-1899)  was  son  of  Thankful,  daughter  of 
Bethuel  Robinson,  of  Willington,  Connecticut.  He  came  to  Geneva  in  1840 
and  permitted  himself  to  forget  his  father's,  step- father's  and  half-sister's 
names.  His  first  wife,  Nancy  A.  Fowle,  married  July  11,  1841,  was  his  chil- 
dren's mother. 

John  Haskins  1  '1811-1887)  married  Olivia  X.  (Vose),  widow  of  John 
Seymour.  John  Vose  Seymour,  of  Lake  Geneva,  was  her  son.  John  and 
James  Haskins  bought  and  improved  the  water  power  in  section  25,  and  be- 
came  residents  of  the  village. 

Moses  S.  Herrick  died  in  1872.  [lis  wife  was  Julia  Ann.  daughter  of 
Jacob  Herrick  and  Roxana  Bradley. 

Mason  A.  Hollister  (born  1S1S1.  son  of  John,  son  of  Elisha  (as  told), 
married  Matilda  (born  1834).  daughter  of  John  Dalton. 

William  Pentland  died  in  1845.  He  left  sons  who  were  long  known  as 
farmers  of  the  northern  part  of  the  town. 

Langdon  C.  Porter  married  Eunice  Wright,  March  13.  1844. 

William  I'.  Ross  (1812-1887),  son  of  Morris,  married  Polly  Maria. 
daughter  of  Jacob  Herrick.  Their  son.  Washington  (burn  [845),  was  a 
soldier  of  the  Civil  war. 


320  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

Nehemiah  Rouse  (1803-1874),  son  of  Anthony,  married  Maria,  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  Plate.  She  died  in  1875.  One  of  their  eight  children  was  Han- 
nah, wife  of  Ethan  B.  Farnum. 

Hiram  Spencer  (1799-1878),  son  of  Noah,  came  in  1845.  His  wife, 
Lois  (1804-1883),  was  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Moseley  and  Charlotte  Dewey. 
This  family  had  several  local  connections  by  marriage. 

Edward  Stevens  (1813-1893)  had  wife  Adeline  (1808-1885).  A  son, 
.Martin  E.  (born  1840),  was  a  soldier  of  the  Twenty-second  Infantry.  A 
daughter,  Emma,  was  born  in  1843. 

Many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Geneva,  like  those  of  other  towns,  had  large 
familias,  and  a  minute  division  of  land  was  avoided  by  westward  emigration. 
Thus  it  not  seldom  happens  that  they  are  represented,  if  at  all,  at  the  old 
homes  by  the  children  of  daughters.  In  the  sub-pioneer  period,  too,  there 
appeared  many  whose  names,  once  heard  daily,  are  already  becoming  but  mem- 
ories.  Among  these  disappearing-  names  are  Baggs.  Bagnell,  Case,  Chase, 
Clap]),  (iates,  Goodspeed,  Hand,  Howe,  Jackson,  Lytle,  Phelps,  Potter.  Vin- 
cent and  Wales.  Some  of  the  old  families,  however,  are  yet  to  be  found  in  the 
villages  and  the  adjacent  towns. 

In  summer  automobile  tourists  from  Chicago  and  the  farthest  east  find 
one  of  their  principal  routes  through  Bloomfield  into  Geneva  and  thence  by 
Elkhorn,  Sugar  Creek,  Lagrange  and  Whitewater  to  the  sub-polar  regions. — ■ 
literally  tearing  up  the  miles  and  flinging  them  behind  in  long-hovering  clouds 
of  dust.-  tn  men  of  the  Civil  war  a  reminder  of  the  march  of  armies.  In  their 
wildest  battle-inspired  dreams  neither  Big  Foot  nor  Christopher  Payne  ever 
saw  an  endless  procession  of  invincible  "shovers"  taking  each  his  imperial 
right  of  way  across  counties  ami  states.  Bui  the  prophet  .Valium  may  have 
foreseen  the  age  of  gasoline  ami  rubber-tired  chariots. 

At  the  lir^t  two  elections  the  original  town  of  Geneva,  as  yet  undivided, 
was  twche  miles  square.  In  1N44  the  four  towns  chose  each  its  own  local 
■  ifficers,  its  chain  nan  being  als,  >  a  member  of  the  count)  board  of  supen  isors. 
The  return  to  commissioner  government  [862-1870 — relieved  the  chairmen 
i>f  lli.it  period   from  dut)   as  board  members. 

\1  EM  BERS  OF  COUNTY  BOARD    U*D  CHAIRMEN. 

[ohn  M.  Capron  _                     - 1 S4 _>  lharles  Moorhouse  Goodsell       1849 

rhomas  Hovi  [843  David  Williams         [851-2 

[ohn   V  Farnum 1844-7. '53  [oseph  Gates      1854 

Simeon  William  Spafard      [848,  '50         Charles  W.  Smith [855  6,  58 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Alonzo  Potter ^57 

Dr.  Alexander  S.  Palmer__i859-'6i 

Osborn  Hand „ 1862 

Samuel  Henry  Stafford 1863,  'yy 

Shepard  O.  Raymond 1864 

Cyril  Leach  Oatman 1865-6,  '70 

Charles  Dunlap 1867-9,  '72-6 

James  Simmons 1871 

Charles  Palmitier 1878 

William  H.  Hammersley 1879-85 

Henry  S.  Bull 1886-7 


Washington  Ross 1888-9 

Daniel  D.  Fairchild 1890-1,  '95 

Henry  J.   Xoblet 1892 

William  Edmund  Dunbar 1893-4 

William  Dwight  Wales 1896-99 

William   Penn   Dunlap 1900-4 

William  Thomas  Taylor 1905 

Robert  J.  Lean 1906 

C.  Monroe  Gates 1907-1 1 

Charles  Wurth 1912 


ASSOCIATE  SUPERVISORS. 


Harvey  E.  Allen 1863' 

Charles  Minton  Baker 1870 

Joel  Barber 1868 

Frank    I'.   Brewster 1894 

Ira  Brown 1852 

William  Worth  Byington.1867.  '72-4 

Amos  Cahoon i845-'8,  '54 

Alvah  Chandler 1845-8 

Arriestus  D.  Colton 1862 

Martins  Dyar  Cowdery 1873-'' 

Ebenezer  Dayton 1843 

A.  Pierre  Deignan 1895 

Christopher  F.   Deignan 

1888-90, '98-1912 

James   J.    Dewey 1866 

William  Edmund  Dunbar 1886-7 

Charles  Dunlap 1863-6,  '71.  '~~~8. 

B6 

>  niel  D.  Fairchild 1881-85 

Ethan  I'..  Farnum 1857.  '60 

T'llm  Allen  Farnum 1845 

Gideon  E.  S.  Fellows 1861 

Andrew   I  erguson .__i85r>7 

LI  n  Gray  (-'lack 1889 

Richard  llaker  Lack 185] 

(21) 


Ethan  Lamphere  Gilbert 1882-5 

James  Gray 1852 

Joseph  Griffin 1855 

William  II    Hammersley 1875-8 

Jared  I  land 1859-60 

Jesse  Hand 1842 

James  Haskins 1844.  '50 

John  Haskins 1851,  '53 

Apollos  Hastings 1858 

Alexander  Henry 190V'1 

Jacob  Herrick 1844,  '49 

Jason  A.  Herrick 1880 

Levi  Jackson 1854,  '69-71 

Robert  J.  Lean [896-1900 

Thomas  McDonald 1891 -<i| 

William   K.   May 1842 

Laac  Moorhouse 1892 

ILnn  J.  Noblet 1893,  '95 

Cyril  1..  Oatman 1864 

Edward   Pentland 1879-80 

Ellery  Channing  Petrie [907-12 

Cyrus  King  Phelps r888 

Alonzo  Potter  .  1856 

Ed  \\  a  n  1    Qti  igley 1&65 

William  II.  Reynolds ioor-4 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


Harrison  Rich J859 

Michael  Rouse 1881.  '87 

William  Rouse 1890-1 

Sylvester  Curtis  Sanford 1853 

Albert  !•'..  Smith 1867-8 

Harvey  S.  Stafford 1872 


Samuel  Henry  Stafford 1861.  '79 

Oliver  P.  Standish 1862 

Edward  Stevens ^49 

Charles  Wales t^SS-  '58-9 

Festas  A.  Williams 1888.  '96-7 

James  <i.    Williams 1850 


rows  CLERKS. 


Lyman   Redington 1842 

Lewis    Curtis    1843 

James  Simmons ^44 

Erasmus  Darwin  Richardson 

.1845-6,  '50 

Simeon    Williams    Spafard 1847-8 

Thomas  McKaig 1849 

Dr.  Clarkson  Miller 1851-2 

I'.tni.    Blodgett    Humphrey..  1853-4 
Simeon  Gardner 185^ 


Jonathan  T.  Abel! 1856-66 

John  A.  Smith 1867-8 

Charles  Edwin  Buell 1869-71 

William   II.   Hammersley 1872-3 

John  Bell  Simmons 1874-85 

A.  Pierre  Deignan 1886-7 

Lewis  Ceorge  Foster 18SS 

William  Dwight  Wales 1889-qT 

Frank  Abbott 18Q2-8.  1900-12 

\lbert  Dinsmore t S< j<  1 


TOWN*    TREASURER. 


Charles  Minton  Laker [842-3 

Foster  V.  Howe 1844-6 

Lewis  Curtis i S47 

Andrew    Ferguson 184.x 

John  Marsh 1849-50 

Joseph  Gates 1851 

Simeon    Williams   Spafard 1852-3 

Linus  Emerick     1854 

Linn  Andrus 1^55.  '~,j 

Thomas  Baker  Cra\    ._i856,  '74^85 

William  I.    Valentine [858-60 

George  M.   Barber 1861-63 


Ralph  T.  Moody 1864 

William  H.  Lee 1865-6.  '69 

Schuyler  S.   Hanna 1867 

William  Alexander 1868 

Sylvester  Curtis  Sanford. 1X70-1 

John  Burton '872-3 

Arthur   G     Palmer [886-7 

Albert   Dinsmore 1888-94 

William    II.    Howe '895-9 

Samuel  James  Dunbar 1 900-6 

John  McLean 1907-12 


JUSTICES  OF  THE    PI    \«  I  . 


han  T    Vbell [86  1  ~ 

Thomas  Vshe 1904  5 


Charles  Minton  Laker 1871 

Warren  Beckwith r859-6o,  "75-80 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


Francis  A.  Buckbee 1877-86 

Henry  S.  Bull 1874-7,  '80-1 

James  F.  Campbell-- 1888-91.  1904-5 

Nelson  B.  Campbell 1908-11 

Martins  Dyar  Cowdery 1872-4 

Frank  J.  Dalrymple 

1 896- 1 903,  'oA- 12 

\.  Pierre  Deignan 1886 

Alliert  Dinsmore 1900-1 

Charles  Dunlap 1866-7,  71 

Daniel  D.  Fairchild 1889-90 

Bezaleel  W.  Farnum 1861 

Floyd  E.  dray 1891  -5 


Thomas  Baker  Gray 1861-4 

Tared  Hand 1864-5 

Joseph  Spencer  Hand 1886 

George  D.  Johnson__'95-i902,  '05-8 

Thomas  F.  Johnson 1885-6 

Matthew  E.  Lee 1887-8 

Bernard  McGuire 1894,  '97-1900 

Cyril  Leach  Oatman-_  1859-60.  '63-6 
Washington  Ross  ___  1878-9.  '82-88 

Michael  Rouse 1865-8 

Stephen  Bemis  Van  Buskirk_i 870-1 

James  N.  Webster 1892-7 

Collins  M.  Williams 1900-2 


Mr   Abell's  service  as  justice  began  in  1851  and  continued  nearly  without 
interval  until  his  death.  February  8,  1867. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


CITY    OF    LAKE    GENEVA. 


Solomon  Juneau,  in  May,  1836,  had  told  Charles  A.  Noyes,  just  arrived 
from  Chicago,  of  golden  possibilities  lying  between  the  lake  and  Rock  river, 
and  especially  of  the  mill  section  at  Geneva  lake.  He  said  that  Hodgson  and 
Brink  had  left  two  of  their  men  to  make  such  improvements  as  were  needful 
to  secure  their  claim  to  the  whole  section,  and  that  as  soon  as  their  surveying 
contract  should  be  finished  they  were  going  there  to  improve  the  water  power 
and  to  build  a  town.  The  prospects  looked  fair  to  Mr.  Noyes  and  with  his 
cousin,  Orrin  Hatch  Coe,  he  again  left  Chicago,  reaching  the  disputed  claim 
about  May  21st,  after  much  wandering  in  five  counties.  He  found  there 
three  log  houses,  all  occupied.  One  of  these,  just  within  the  town  of  Linn, 
was  Thomas  Hovey's;  one,  southeast  of  the  outlet,  was  occupied  by  Hodgson 
and  Brink's  men :  and  one,  across  the  outlet,  by  Christopher  Payne. 

Ostrander  and  Henry  explained  that  they  had  been  to  Milwaukee  for 
provisions  ami  had  overstayed  by  three  weeks  for  a  "little  spree  with  the  buys." 
Returning,  they  had  found  that  Payne  and  Mosher  had  been  a  fortnight  in 
possession,  within  which  time  they  had  built  their  cabin,  and  that  they  were 
indisposed  to  heed  an  informal  notice  to  quit.  Payne  some  time  afterward 
admitted  that  he  had  seen  Brink's  claim  marks,  but  thought  them  somebody's 
tomfoolery.  Noyes  and  Coe  bought  a  quarter  interest  in  the  whole  claim 
for  five  hundred  dollars,  of  Ostrander  and  Henry,  who  acted  as  agents  and 
in  their  own  behalf  as  co-claimants.  Hodgson  ratified  the  sale,  though  he 
could  ii"i  for  some  weeks  return  in  treat  or  fight  with  Payne.  Noyes  having 
advised  compromise,  t<>  which  Payne  was  not  averse,  he  staked  out  a  race 
as  a  first  step  in  mill  building.  In  the  following  night,  without  consulting 
Noyes,  Messrs.  Ostrander  and  Henry  tore  out  Payne's  framework  for  a  dam 
across  the  outlet.  The  next  day  Coe  went  eastward  for  money  and  Noyes 
soon  set  out  for  a  millwright  at  Milwaukee.  They  had  previously  cut  and 
hauled  logs  fur  two  houses,  and  Noyes  enjoined  his  men  not  to  overstep  the 
ii-i  1I1  nid  south  quarter  line  temporarily  dividing  the  rival  claimants.  At 
his  1.  om   Milwaukee  he    found  his  caution  had  been  disregarded  and 

one  house  was  finished. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  325 

Payne,  too,  had  been  away  and  had  brought  from  Belvidere  James  Van 
Slyke  and  wife.  He  moved  this  family  by  night  into  the  new  house,  as  the 
Noyes  party  learned  next  morning  from  the  smoking  chimney.  A  half- 
dozen  men  rushed  into  the  cabin  before  Payne  could  take  his  gun,  marched 
him  to  his  own  house  which  they  demolished,  performed  a  ring  dance  around 
him.  and  banished  him  with  threats  to  drown  him  if  he  should  come  back. 
He  and  Van  Slyke  went  away,  leaving  Mrs.  Van  Slyke  to  their  enemies, 
who  made  her  as  comfortable  as  they  could.  Two  or  three  days  later  the 
first  white  native  of  Walworth  county  was  born.  Noyes  learned  all  this  on 
his  return  with  the  millwright.  He  says:  "Ostrander  and  Henry  were  wild 
with  glee  in  relating  to  me  the  heroic  exploit  of  driving  off  the  old  man 
Payne.  I  deprecated  it,  and  told  them  an  arbitration  of  the  settlers  ought 
to  be  the  first  resort  (there  being  no  legal  authority),  and  further,  I  told 
them  they  need  not  flatter  themselves  they  were  rid  of  Payne.  If  physical 
force  was  to  decide  the  contest  he  would  acquire  it  if  possible,  and  that  ere 
long.  I  dampened  their  glee  and  incurred  their  displeasure  by  denouncing 
their  conduct." 

A  week  later  Payne  came  with  two  wagon-loads  of  warriors  and  drove 
toward  the  new  house.  Noyes,  with  a  hickory  cane  and  a  half-dozen  com- 
rades, placed  themselves  on  guard  at  the  door.  As  an  equal  number  of  the 
enemy  came  up  Xoyes  spoke  and  said  :  "Gentlemen,  you  come  with  as  much 
noise  and  gusto  as  though  you  had  some  important  project  in  view." 

"Yes."'  says  Schoonover,  one  of  Payne's  champion  fighters,  "we've  come 
to  drive  out  a  d — d  lot  of  land  pirates,  and  reinstate  Uncle  Payne  as  the  only 
rightful  proprietor  to  this  mill  section.  We  have  brought  tools  necessary  to 
put  up  a  mill  and  settle  the  country  around  the  lake,  and  if  force  is  required 
we  are  ready." 

To  this  Noyes  answered  that  he  did  not  believe  they  would  begin  fight- 
ing without  first  knowing  all  the  facts.  These  he  set  forth  from  his  point 
of  view,  reminded  them  that  there  were  other  claimants  al>out  the  bay  whose 
rights  must  be  protected  according  to  settler's  rules,  and  said  that  if  they 
should  choose  to  remain  on  Payne's  disputed  quarter-section  he  would  not 
interfere  until  Hodgson  should  arrive.  But  they  must  not  meddle  with  the 
rest  of  the  section  nor  with  individual  claims. 

Schoonover  asked  who  Noyes  called  himself,  to  show  so  much  authority; 
said  tint  soft  words  would  not  win;  that  he  believed  the}  were  land  pirates  and 
had  no  just  claims  there:  that  the  next  day  hi-  party  would  begin  to  build 
a  mill  and  settle  the  country;  that  they  would  paj  no  attention  whatever  to 
the  rights  pretended.  Payne,  with  other-  who  had  been  in  the  rear,  came 
forward,  and  tin-  Noyes  manuscripl  runs  a  little  way  thus: 


526  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

"Schoonover  says,  'Uncle  Payne,  what  will  you  put  in  the  house?" 

"1  told  him  that  Van  Slvke.  if  he  thought  himself  worthy,  could  enter; 
hut  none  other  of  their  party. 

"  'Just  as  I  expected,'  says  Schoonover,  'we  have  got  to  fight  and  we 
may  as  well  begin.  Just  form  a  circle,  call  in  any  two  of  your  men  at  a  time, 
and  if  I  get  tired  before  I  whip  you  all,  friend  Gilbert  will  spell  me." 

"This  started  Sam  Brittain's  Saxon  (  for  he  was  English).  He  steps 
forward  and  says:  T> — n  you!  threaten  of  whipping  us  all?  Will  you  try 
me  first?' 

"1  jumped  between  with  my  shillelah  and  said:  'Hold  on  boys!  Better 
sleep  one  night  over  it  before  shedding  blood,  for  that  won't  end  it."  Payne 
called  Schoonover  back,  had  a  short  chat  with  him,  and  began  to  unload  and 
arrange  for  night  quarters  on  the  greensward.  Van  Slvke  walked  demurely 
into  the  cabin,  and  we  left,  to  ponder  on  the  morrow."' 

The  next  day  the  Payne  party,  having  looked  about,  traced  claim  lines, 
and  consulted,  went  after  dinner  to  cut  logs  on  the  quarter  west  of  the  Payne 
claim,  and  began  to  haul  them  to  the  site  of  his  house.  By  night  they  had 
them  piled  nine  logs  high  and  ready  for  the  plates.  Xoyes  then  told  them 
that  they  had  been  cutting  logs  on  Eggleston's  claim,  that  he  had  gone  to 
.Milwaukee  for  provisions,  and  that  they  could  see  evidence  of  his  ownership. 
Schoonover  and  Gilbert,  scarred  bullies  from  the  Kishwaukee.  "told  me  to 
go  to  h — -,  to  protect  ourselves  if  we  could,  for  they  intended  next  day  to  put 
up  five  or  si\  house  bodies  on  the  other  side  of  the  outlet;  and  it'  we  would 
help  them  they  would  treat,  tor  they  had  a  bit  of  rum." 

Noyes  walked  awa\  quietly  and  Payne's  men  thought  themselves  mas- 
ter- nu.it  inn.  \  I'ter  their  supper  they  entertained  themselves  by 
whooping,  yelling,  drumming  on  empty  barrels,  firing  small  anus,  and  they 
kept  up  these  senseless  noises  all  night.  In  the  morning  Mr.  Winchester,  who 
had  come  with  his  wife  ami  child  from  Milwaukee,  asked  Noyes  if  he  had 
-l.pi  "Not  much,  but  l'\e  dreamed  some  good."  "Let  us  have  it."  "Well, 
when  they  come  over  to  put  on  their  plates  let  us  go  down  and  cut  up  their 
bailding."  Said  Winchester,  "That's  my  hand.  Mayn't  I  be  captain?"  As  a 
mi  I 'a\  ne's  men  crossed  the  outlet  Captain  Winchester  marched  toward 
them  at  the  head  of  ten  men  with  shouldered  axc- 

"When  within  -ix  Feel  of  Payne,  Winchester  made  a  bound,  -lapped  one 

hand   on   his   righl    shoulder,   and    gave   two   or   three   -hakes,   and    it    wa-   no 

maiden's  grip,   I  as-ure  you,   for  said   Winchester,  although  his  weight  did 

ceed  one  hundred  tifn  pounds,  had  more  strength  of  muscle,  especially 

■'id  arm.  than  anyone  I  ever  knew.     Payne  turned  hi-  head  to  speak. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  $2J 

Winchester,  with  the  other  fist  drawn,  says:  'No*  a  word,  or  I  go  through 
you  like  a  streak  of  lightning.  You  yelled  enough  last  night.'  At  that, 
Pavne  attempted  to  put  his  right  hand  in  his  pocket,  which  Winchester  pre- 
vented. Thus  far  none  of  Payne's  party  had  moved  from  the  plate.  Win- 
chester now  says,  'Boys,  demolish  that  building."  Tom  Spriggs  and  self, 
who  stood  next  to  Winchester,  sprang  up  with  the  rest;  hut  no  sooner  up 
than  Schoonover  and  Gilbert  circled  around  toward  us.  We  jumped  down 
and  met  them  with  drawn  axes.  Says  Schoonover:  "What!  use  axes  to 
fight?"  I  told  him  I  despised  the  idea  of  striking  such  scoundrels  with  my 
fist,  and  that  axes  were  quite  as  humane  as  pistols  and  muskets  with  which 
they  had  tried  to  frighten  us." 

Payne  here  called  Schoonover  aside  for  further  conference  while  Win- 
chester's axemen  chopped  down  the  house.  Schoonover  came  back  smiling, 
admitted  that  the  boys  were  pretty  good  soldiers,  but  he  now  believed  more 
than  ever  that  Payne  was  in  the  right.  He  said  he  had  advanced  five  hun- 
dred dollars  on  a  contract  to  pay  nine  hundred  dollars  for  one-ninth  interest 
in  the  claim,  and  Gilbert  and  others  had  contracted  similarly.  He  further 
said:  "I'll  tell  you  what  we  are  going  to  do.  We  find  you  are  too  many 
for  us,  and  we,  or  most  of  us,  are  going  to  mount  our  horses  and  put  out 
for  help.  I  can  raise  forty  men  on  the  North  Kishuaukee  and  Payne  at  least 
thirty  on  the  South,  and  in  a  week  we  shall  be  back  with  seventy  men,  armed 
as  the  law  directs,  and  then  you  can  fight  as  you  please." 

To  this  answered  Noyes:  "Go!  you  can't  scare  up  five  more  such 
scoundrels  as  yourself  in  all  Illinois;  and  as  for  advancing  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, 1  don't  believe  you  are  worth  five  hundred  cents." 

Whereat  Schoonover:  "You  are  too  many  for  a  rough  and  tumble,  but 
if  I  can  have  a  fair  fight,  with  no  interfering,  I'll  pledge  myself  to  whip 
your  crowd." 

Brittain  stepped  forward,  saying.  "A  fair  fight  is  my  hand.  Now  pitch 
in." 

Schoonover  pitched  in,  but  was  quickly  pitched  out  with  a  pair  of  black- 
ened eyes  and  a  bloody  nose.  Brittain  stumbled  and  Schoonover  fell  upon 
him  "with  a  thumb  for  each  eye;"  but.  baffled  here,  he  tried  to  bite  off  Brit- 
tain's  nose.  Sprigg  here  interfered  and  asked  if  this  was  fair  fighting. 
Schoonover  ran  for  an  axe  and  Sprigg  met  him  with  another  one.  Here 
this  Homeric  battle  ended  with  a  few  more  "winged  words."  Payne  long 
afterward  told  Noyes  that  his  men  had  at  first  intended  to  take  their  firearms 
with  them,  but  changed  that  notion.  He  had  forgotten  to  pocket  his  own 
derringer.     lie  said  he  was  glad  tlu-rc  were  no  such  weapons  at  hand.  r\~r 


528  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

there  would  have  been  corpses  at  Geneva  that  day.  The  Kishwaukeeans  re- 
tired with  threats  to  come  again,  and  Noyes  resumed  work  on  his  race  and 
mill- framing. 

Three  weeks  after  the  battle  a  new  party  came  'from  Chicago  by  way 
of  Marengo.  While  the  late  contention  was  in  progress  Mosher  and  Van 
Slyke  had  slipped  away  and.  representing  themselves  as  sole  claimants  at 
Lake  Geneva,  had  tried  to  induce  Lewis  B.  Goodsell,  George  L.  Campbell 
and  Andrew  Ferguson  to  buy  their  rights,  which  they  offered  at  a  low  rating. 
Goodsell  had  known  Van  Slyke  at  Cooperstown,  and  did  not  fully  trust  him; 
but  he  risked  and  lost  four  hundred  dollars.  Mosher  then  went  out  into 
the  vastness  of  Illinois,  and  Walworth  knew  him  no  more.  Payne  heard  of 
this  sale  and,  as  he  was  unable  to  renew  war.  he  went  to  Chicago  and  thus 
Goodsell  learned  some  useful  truth.  Hodgson,  too,  was  sent  for,  and  came 
from  Waukesha.  He  first  offered  to  sell  to  Noyes  and  Coe  a  half-interest 
in  the  mill  section,  if  Ostrander  and  Henry  would  sell  their  shares;  but  these 
men  saw  some  larger  advantage  in  holding  them.  Hodgson  then  offered  to 
give  his  quarter-interest  if  his  past  expenses  were  paid.  But  Noyes  had  now 
some  larger  plans.  The  Goodsell  party  had  found  R.  Wells  Warren  at  St. 
Charles  and  had  taken  him  into  their  partnership,  and  to  these  men  Hodgson 
sold  his  own  and  Brink's  rights — without  the  latter's  knowledge  or  approval. 
Payment  of  two  thousand  dollars  left  the  Goodsell-Warren  party  in  posses- 
sion  and  the  settlement  of  Lake  Geneva  went  peaceably  forward  unto  this 
day. 

Mr.  Xoyes  could  write  of  himself  and  his  affairs  from  his  own  knowl- 
edge, but  may  have  been  somewhat  at  fault  as  to  the  negotiations  between 
Hodgson  and  the  newcomers.  There  arc  other  accounts  of  this  business  and 
its  attendant  incidents,  and  it  is  probable  that  Mr.  Simmons  has  written  with 
substantial  correctness.  The  history  of  a  land  title,  however,  is  of  less  pres- 
ent interest  than  that  of  the  rise  of  a  city. 

Mr.  Warren  was  a  practical  and  competent  business  man,  and  his  co- 
partners  were  nol  merely  speculators.  The  race  was  finished  and  a  sawmill 
began  work  in  March,  [837.  In  [838  Charles  M.  Goodsell  was  given  a  lease 
of  water  power  for  four  years,  without  charge,  and  he  built  a  grist  mill, 
which  began  t"  grind  in  October.  Mr.  Warren  bought  this  mill  and  worked 
it  until  [848,  when  lie  built  a  larger  one.  There  was  another  water  power, 
with  a  fall  of  twelve  feet,  in  section  -'5.  within  the  present  city  limits,  first 
imed,  it  is  said,  by  P.  O.  Sprague,  but  was  soon  in  possession  of  Sidney 
who  sold  in  1S42  to  James  and  John  !  laskins.  These  men  built  a  saw- 
mill the  nest  year.     In  1875  the  Crawford  Reaper  Company  for  a  few  vears 


WALWORTH    COUNTY.    WISCONSIN.  329 

found  larger  use  for  this  power,  and  then  it  became  again  the  property  of 
John  Haskins. 

In  1837  the  seven  owners  of  section  36,  namely,  R.  Wells  Warren, 
Greenleaf  S.  Warren.  Dr.  Philip  Maxwell,  Col.  James  Maxwell,  Lewis  B. 
Goodsell,  Andrew  Ferguson  and  George  L.  Campbell,  employed  Thomas  Mc- 
Kaig  to  survey  and  plat  the  village  of  Geneva.  This  work  was  finished  and 
recorded  in  May,  1840.  Two  blocks  were  reserved  for  parks,  one  for  a 
cemetery,  and  also  ground  for  churches  and  school.  The  base  line  of  this 
survey  was  that  part  of  the  highway  from  Kenosha  to  Beloit  lying  within  the 
village  limits,  and  was  named  Main  street.  Other  early  villagers  named  were 
Charles  M.  Baker,  Henry  Carter,  William  Casporus,  W.  Densmore  Chapin, 
George  Clark,  Arnestus  D.  Colton,  Dudley  Wesley  Cook,  Experience  Esta- 
brook,  Benjamin  E.  Gill,  Joseph  Griffin.  Thomas  \\".  Hill,  Thomas  Hovey, 
Thomas  McKaig.  Dr.  James  McNish,  Russell  H.  Mallory,  Charles  A.  Xoyes, 
Cyril  L.  Oatman,  Amos  Pond,  Samuel  Ross,  Ransom  A.  Sheldon,  Simeon 
W.  Spafard,  Horace  Starkey,  Dr.  Oliver  S.  Tiffany,  Cornelius  P.,  Philander 
K.  and  William  II.  Van  Yelzer,  Asahel  ]'.  and  Jonathan  Ward,  Thomas  D. 
Warren.  Lucian  Wright.  Several  of  these  men  owned  land  in  other  towns 
and  some  of  them  lived  in  these  towns. 

TAVERNS    AND    HOTELS. 

R.  Wells  Warren's  first  log  house  was  earth-floored  and  was  heated  by 
a  fireplace  at  one  end,  which,  for  several  months,  had  no  chimney  but  a  hole 
in  the  roof.  Being  also  a  hotel,  it  was  furnished  with  a  long  bench  and  four 
bedsteads.  The  latter  were  each  of  oak  rails  naturally  supported  at  one  end 
by  thrusting  between  the  logs  of  the  cabin  wall,  and  artificially  at  the  other 
end  by  a  single  stake  with  cross-head.  The  bedding  was  of  wild  grass.  In 
1837  Mr.  Warren  built  a  real  hotel,  at  Main  and  Centre  streets,  near  the  old 
house,  and  January  8,  1838,  entertained  one  hundred  ninety  guests,  mostly 
dancers,  from  near  and  far,  from  whom  he  collected  about  seven  hundred 
dollars — for  in  that  golden  age  there  were  no  bad  accounts.  \biel  Manning 
and  Albert  A.  Thompson  occupied  this  house,  the  Geneva  Hotel,  in  1843. 
Apollos  W.  Hastings  bought  it  in  1844  and  in  1848  rented  it  to  Harrison 
Rich.  Harvey  E.  Allen  bought  and  occupied  the  h"use  in  1851,  and  sold  it 
to  Sabra  Delaware  in  1856.  In  1859  Asa  W.  Fair  bought  it  at  a  bankrupt 
sale  and  sold  it  to  Lansing  D.  Hale  and  others.  In  [858  Nelson  Pitkin  came 
from  Kenosha,  took  the  house  1  probably  as  tenant  1.  and  named  it  Commer- 
cial Hotel.     He  was  a  little,  bewigged,  old-fashioned  Connecticut  innkeeper 


33° 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


who  may  have  been  in  his  flay,  then  long  past,  a  militia  officer,  and  must  have 
been  a  relative  of  several  distinguished  namesakes.  He  had  seen  better  days, 
and  he  showed  what  landlord  manners  were  in  1820.  But  to  sit  at  his  table 
was  to  know  something  of  Barmecide  feasts;  for  the  times  were  very  hard, 
he  was  poor  and  a  stranger,  and  the  other  hotel  had  most  of  the  public  favor. 
Philo  B.  Baird  was  landlord  in  i860,  but  it  is  not  learned  whether  this  was 
for  one  year  or  for  five  years.  In  1806  John  Christian  was  tenant.  In  1869 
the  house  became  a  boarding  house  for  the  Geneva  Seminary  for  a  term  of 
two  years.  In  1872  B.  K.  Cowles  leased  the  house  and  named  it  St.  Denis. 
The  latest  proprietor,  as  here  remembered,  was  George  W.  Ransford,  from 
about  [875.     In   [895  the  house  was  pulled  down  and  its  site  is  yet  bare. 

Greenleaf  S.  Warren  built  the  Lake  House  at  Main  and  Broad  streets, 
in  1837,  and  was  its  landlord.  His  brother,  Thomas  D.  Warren,  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Arnestus  D.  Colton,  each  about  1845,  succeeded,  and  in  1846 
Mr.  (niton  rented  it  for  two  years  to  Harrison  Rich,  but  returned  as  land- 
lord and  remained  until  about  1862.  when  he  sold  it  to  Peter  Van  Slyck. 
Samuel  H.  Stafford  bought  and  occupied  it  in  18(4  with  John  S.  Griffin,  his 
brother-in-law,  as  partner  in  business.  The  house  had  been  extended  from 
time  to  time,  and  Mr.  Stafford  made  further  improvements.  Other  landlords 
were  Edwin  Woodman.  W.  G.  Barrett,  George  W.  Ransford,  Orlando  Leon- 
ard Blakesley  and  his  brother  William,  and  Aaron  L.  Yanderpool.  About 
1892  the  house  was  further  altered  and  improved  and  was  new-named  Staf- 
ford House.  At  some  time  since  it  l>ecame  the  Hotel  Florence.  Its  old  oak 
franu-  has  been  time-tested,  but  its  end  may  be  near,  for  there  is  much  talk  of 
building  in  the  present  century's  style. 

David  T.  Whiting  built  a  wholly  new  hotel  by  the  lakeside,  at  the  foot 
of  Broad  street,  in  1873,  and  named  it  for  himself.  It  was  planned  to 
nurt  the  wants  of  summer  visitors  to  the  already   famous  lake.     It  was  four 

1        high,  built  of  v\ 1  in  the  somewhat  omatr  style  of  that  period.     It 

had  competent  managers,  and  it-  business  for  several  years  justified  the  cost 
of  its  building  and  furnishing  forty  thousand  dollars  or  more,  it  is  said. 
It  was  burned  to  the  ground  in  July.  [894,  and  the  lots  on  which  it  stood 
ed  to  new  ownership. 

The  Union  House,  opened  in  1870  by  Benjamin  Fish,  in  Broad  street, 
near  the  railway,  and  kept  by  John  Kohn  in  1NS1.  is  mentioned  1>\  Mr.  Cutler, 
but  not  by  Mr.  Simmons  \  store  was  moved  From  Main  street  and  joined 
to  this  house,  which  in  [892  became  the  Garrison  House,  and  about  1804  'fie 

1  Denison.  Outwardl)  it  is  a  homely  gambrel-roofed  house,  but  its 
management  within  makes  all  needful  amend-.  This  house,  like  the  Hotel 
-  likeh  to  be  rebuilt  in  n<  >t  mam  years  more 


wai.worth  county,  Wisconsin  33 1 


EARLY   BUSINESS   MEN. 


Charles  M.  Goodsell  built  a  grist  mill  in  1838  and  worked  it  for  nearly 
four  Years,  on  liberal  terms  given  by  the  proprietors  of  the  village  as  to  use 
of  the  water  power,  and  custom  came  to  him  from  afar — even  from  the  Lake 
Michigan  shore  and  Rock  river  valley.  But  he  steadfastly  refused  to  grind  for 
distillers'  use  About  1842  R.  Wells  Warren  bought  the  mill  and  worked  it  till 
1848.  when  he  built  a  new  and  improved  one.  In  1854-5  lie  sold  this  property  to 
the  brothers,  Joseph  W..  Henry  and  Rees  Case,  after  whom  came  James  Will- 
iams. Mr.  Cogswell  and  Shepard  O.  Raymond  successively  as  part  owners. 
In  1859  Harvey  E.  Allen  built  the  "Red  Mill."  which  in  1866  was  sold  to 
the  Geneva  Manufacturing  Company,  and  for  two  years  became  a  woolen 
mill.  It  was  later  refitted  for  grinding  oatmeal.  There  is  still  a  busy  feed 
mill  near  one  of  these  old  sites,  built  substantially  of  brick.  In'  or  tor  Judson 
G.  Sherman. 

Mr.  Simmons,  in  his  "Annals,"  mentioned  other  manufacturing  enter- 
prises— among  them  the  Crawford  reaper  works  in  1875.  Most  of  these 
began  with  reasonable  hope  of  success  and  some  of  them  flourished  for  a  few 
years,  bringing  to  the  village  increase  of  population  and  general  trade,  and 
some  of  that  good  remains.  But  the  conditions  which  now  for  long  have 
brought  the  smaller  factories  throughout  the  country  quite  generally  to 
naught  have  been  felt  here.  If  water  power  is  of  yet  further  use  to  man  as, 
no  doubt,  it  is.  that  at  Lake  Geneva  will  not  forever  flow  uselessly,  or  but 
for  minor  uses,  on  its  tortuous  way  to  the  gulf. 

Among  the  earlier  business  and  professional  men  and  mechanics  were: 

William  Alexander  (  [801-1885),  the  first  ami  for  long  the  only  cooper, 
came  in  1839.     He  died  at  the  village. 

The  .Alien  brothers,  Harvey  E.,  Seymour  and  William  II.,  wagon- 
makers  and  blacksmiths,  came  in  1845.  Harvey  E.  died  in  1804.  Their 
relationship  to  other  Aliens  is  not  learned. 

Joel  Barber,  sun  of  Solon  and  Hannah,  born  1828  in  St.  Lawrence 
county.  Xew  York,  married  Julia  L.  and  Carrie  M.  Marsh,  cousins;  came  in 
[848;  carpenter,  stavemaker,  millwright  and  millowner;  twice  president  of 
the  village. 

John  Beamsley  I  (803-1897),  shoemaker  and  dealer,  came  in  [843.  He 
married  Mary  Jane,  daughter  of  Philander  K.  Van  Velzer,  July  \.  185N. 

John  Brink  (1810-1904),  surveyor  and  earliest  claimant  of  the  water- 
power  section,  died  at  Crystal   Lake,  Illinois. 

John  M..  Newton,  Seth  M.  and   William   II.  Capron's  names  are  found 


332  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

in  earliest  real  estate  records.  One  or  more  of  them  were  of  the  firm  of 
Capron,  Wheeler  &  Whipple,  coming  as  general  dealers  in  1839,  and  soon 
afterward  building  a  distillery,  which  was  but  one  year  in  operation. 

William  Casporus,  a  carpenter,  came  in  1S37  and  was  killed  the  next 
year  by  falling  with  a  broken  scaffold  while  building  his  house  at  Main  and 
Mad i -on  streets. 

Henry  B.  Conant  (  (825-1903)  came  in  1846  as  a  building  contractor, 
and  partner  with  Cyrus  W.  Maynard.  his  brother-indaw,  who  came  a  year 
earlier.     In  judgment  and  skill  they  were  among  the  foremost  in  the  county. 

Dudley  W.  Cook,  wagonmaker,  came  from  Cooperstown  about  1837,  in 
which  year  his  son,  the  first  white  boy,  was  born  and  died  in  the  village.  He 
went  to  California  in  1849  and  died  there. 

Jotham  W.  Curtis,  blacksmith,  burned  Mr.  Payne's  house  at  Duck  Lake, 
about  1839,  destroying  a  just  then  valuable  set  of  carpenter's  tools,  axes,  etc. 
Mr.  Payne  and  his  men  caught  him,  forced  him  into  confession  and  banished 
him. 

Lewis  Curtis  (  1813-1904)  was  bom  in  Chenango  county;  came  in  1840 
and  bought  John  Dunlap's  store.  In  the  same  year  he  married  Mary  Eliza- 
beth (1822-1868),  daughter  of  Hiram  Humphrey  and  Mary  (Blodgett) 
Foster,  lie  was  the  earliest  drug  dealer  at  the  village,  and  continued  in 
general  trade  for  many  years,  ten  of  which  he  was  postmaster. 

James  J.  Dewej  1  [8]  1-1898),  a  native  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  opened 
a  bat  store  in  1845,  and  soon  became  Mr.  Ferguson's  partner.  He  was  post- 
master in  the  Taylor-Fillmore  administrations.  His  first  wife  was  Eliza 
Ann  Bates  (1815-1838),  of  Cooperstown;  his  second  wife  was  Selina  A. 
Merriam  I  1 827-1870). 

Anthom  I)obb-.  -hoemaker,  came  in  1S44.  About  ten  year-  later  he 
was  \  illage  president. 

John  Dunlap  (died  [879)  was  son  of  Robert  (born  17571.  a  soldier  of 
the  Revolution,  and  grandson  of  John  (  1718-1813),  a  native  of  county 
Tyrone.  Ireland,  and  immigrant.  The  younger  John  was  a  half  brother  of 
Asenath,  wife  of  Thomas  McKaig.  In  [839  lie  began  in  business  at  the  vil- 
lage, but  sold  to  Lewis  Curtis. 

Cornwell  Esmond  came  about  [837  and  built  his  blacksmith  shop  at 
Broad  and  Geneva  streets,  now  the  site  of  the  Episcopal  church. 

Benjamin  E.  Gill  (  r8i  1  1888),  mason  and  plasterer,  came  in  1837.     He 
was  an  early  village  president,      lie  went  to  California  in   1850,  and  lived  to 
irn. 

Jo-cph  Griffin  came  from  Cooperstown  in  1842,  and  was  the  first  judge 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN-.  333 

of  probate.  As  he  had  Charles  M.  Baker  always  within  call  he  served  very 
creditably,  and  made  a  comfortable  living  from  office  fees,  and  from  the 
produce  of  his  farm  in  section  30  of  Lyons. 

Lansing  Duane  Hale  (181 8- 1883).  son  of  Samuel  Hale  and  Sarah  AbelL 
came  from  Owego  in  1843  and  was  in  retail  trade  for  twenty-two  years. 
His  first  wife  was  Rebecca  Ellis  (1823-1846);  second  wife,  Jane  Elizabeth 
1  1S301902  ),  daughter  of  Sweet  Allen  and  Jemima  Spicer.  His  brother,  Otis 
K.  Hale  1  1825-  1902),  began  in  trade  in  1853.  His  wife  was  Ann  L.,  daughter 
of  John  Beeden  and  Serena  Garrison. 

Thomas  J.  Hanna  (1809-1900)  came  in  1845  as  a  cabinetmaker,  and 
prospered  at  his  business.     Mrs.  Hanna  was  a  pioneer  in  the  millinery  trade. 

John  Haskins  (1811-1887)  with  his  brother  James  came  in  1842,  and 
built  a  sawmill  at  the  lower  water  power.  In  185 5- 1863  they  were  in  the 
hardware  trade.  Thereafter  they  were  active  in  all  the  greater  local  enter- 
prises. John's  wife  was  Olivia  (Vose),  widow  of  John  Seymour.  She  was 
born  1829,  died  1876. 

Dr.  Stephen  Ingham  (  1778- 1875)  was  born  at  Richmond,  Massachu- 
setts, and  in  1803  married  Huldah  Ambler  (born  1787).  He  came  to  Geneva 
in  1 84 1.     He  owned  a  farm  in  section  12,  Linn. 

Dr.  Alexander  Law  sun  1  1S15-1871)  was  born  in  Perthshire,  Scotland; 
was  graduated  at  the  University  of  Glasgow;  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1837; 
to  Geneva  in  1849,  where  he  practiced  as  a  botanic  physician. 

Daniel  Locke  (1820-1897),  son  of  James  and  Lydia,  was  born  in 
Cheshire  county,  New  Hampshire ;  married,  first,  Clarissa  Wright,  of  Otsego 
county;  came  to  Geneva  as  a  gunsmith  in  1X43:  married  Elizabeth  Booth, 
at  Springfield,  in  1867. 

Russell  II.  Mallary  (or  Mallory?),  born  in  1803  at  Middletown,  Ver- 
mont, came  from  Beardstown.  Illinois,  in  1838;  became  sheriff  in  1841 ;  went 
into  business  at  East  Troy  with  Mr.  Oatman  in  1843;  returned  to  Geneva  and 
died  in  March,  1852.  In  1838  Mallary  &  Oatman  brought  from  Illinois  the 
first  drove  of  hogs,  of  a  breed,  the  continuance  of  which  the  agricultural 
society  has  never  encouraged  by  offer  of  premium.  These  brutes,  shifting 
for  themselves  under  the  oak  trees,  never  became  even  streakily  fat,  and 
when  wanted  were  hunted  and  shot  like  other  wild  game.  Calista  E.  (1809- 
1878),  daughter  of  Eli  Oatman  and  Mary  Symonds,  was  Mr.  Mallory's  wife. 

Philip  D.  Marshall  came  from  Milwaukee  in  1843  and  brought  with  him 
the  "Ariel,"  the  first  of  the  Geneva  lake  fleet.  It  had  masts,  spars  and  sails, 
but  its  surest  motive  power  was  a  pole.  It  carried  twenty  or  more  passengers, 
and,    having  previously   crossed   Lake   Michigan,    the   trip   to   Fontana    and 


334 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Williams  Hay  did  not  overtask  it.  Captain  Marshal  built  and  rented  a  store. 
but  for  himself  preferred  a  shanty,  where  he  sold  apples  and  cider.  He  was 
also  a  shaver  of  shingles. 

Dr.  Ansel  D.  Merritt  came  in  1844,  but  moved  about  1852  to  Wood- 
stock.    He  died  in  1878. 

Gurdon  Montague  MS19-1890),  born  at  Wetherslield.  Connecticut, 
came  from  Trenton,  New  York,  by  way  of  .Milwaukee,  in  1845.  ^e  was 
known  throughout  the  county  as  a  competent  millwright.  His  wife  was 
M.  Maria  Post  (  [823-1866). 

Bradford  T.  Paine  1  1819-1903),  shoemaker,  came  in  1843.  Of  his 
workmen  George  S.  Nethercut  and  Bruce  Frederick  are  ranembered.  His 
wife  was  Ellen  C.   I.oveland   I  1S19-1903). 

Logan  McCoy  Ross,  blacksmith,  in  1843  made  his  shop  in  Payne's  cabin. 
across  the  race  (southeastward). 

Richard  D.  Short  in  T848  began  the  first  regular  business  as  proprietor 
of  a  livery  stable. 

Timothy  C.  Smith  and  X.  S.  Donaldson  came  in  1844  as  dealers  in  dry 
good-  and  groceries. 

Simeon  W.  Spafard  (  [812-1880),  son  of  Abraham  Spafard  (Nathan  5, 
Thomas  4.  Thomas  3,  Samuel  _».  John  1)  and  Sarah  Williams,  came  about 
[838  and  in  [842  opened  a  tinshop  and  stove  store-  He  married  Charlotte  L. 
Sharpe  in  1845,  and  bis  sisters.  Elizabeth  W.  and  Alma  O..  were  wives  of 
Erasmus  I).  Richardson.  Mr.  Simmons  also  mentions  him  as  a  brother-in- 
law  of  William  I\.  May.     In  1854  he  was  assemblyman,     lie  died  at  Omaha. 

Samuel  II.  Stafford  1  [811-1889),  a  native  of  Saratoga,  son  of  Henry 
and  Poll)  1  Cay),  came  from  Kenosha  in  [848  and  with  Mr.  Dewev  engaged 
in  general  trade.     In   1N64  be  wen!  into  other  business. 

Horace  Starkcx.  carpenter  and  millwright,  came  in  [839.  He  bought 
a  farm  in  Walworth  in   1807  and  died  there  about  leu  years  later. 

Philander  K.  Van  Velzer  1  [611-1862)3  -on  of  William  Henry,  an  earlv 
settler  of  I  yons,  came  in  1837  to  the  village  and  for  some  time  made  bricks 
on  hi-  lot  near  the  railway  anil  between  Dodge  and  Wisconsin  streets.  His 
wife  was  Prudence  (1.81.2-18,70),  daughter  of  llendrick  Matteson.  His 
brother,  <  oraelrus  P.  1  [813-1903),  also  came  early.    He  died  at  Delavan. 

\-aliel    P.    Ward,   carpenter,    wa-   an    earl)  -comer.      He   built    the    Imu-c 
>i   1    ow  lied  bj    Richard   I  ).   Short. 

\ndrew  Jack-on  Weatherwax  1  [817-189S)  wa-  born  in  (  Mvans  county, 
\'ew  York  :  came  to  Darien  in  1N45;  to  Geneva  in  1S40  as  the  first  resident 
tailor.      In    1S01    he   and    his    son,    Monroe   J.    W'eatherw  a\.    enlisted    111    the 

tli  Infantry-Cavalry.     His  wife  was  Irene  Preston  (1820-1900). 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN-.  335 

Lucian  Wright  came  in  1836;  owned  land  north  of  Duck  Lake,  where 
he  built  a  kiln  and  made  lime  of  the  best  quality.  He  moved  away  a  few 
years  later. 

Other  men,  who  had  some  larger  part  in  building  this  community,  or 
of  whom  more  is  known,  have  been  or  will  be  mentioned  elsewhere. 

Charles  M.  Goodsell  came  in  [838  to  build  and  operate  a  grist  mill,  but  not 
for  that  only.  He  at  once  began  to  revive  the  temporarily  suspended  religious 
interest  of  the  little  community,  organizing  a  Sunday  school  and.  co-operating 
with  other  good  men  and  women,  preparing  the  way  for  formation  of  reli- 
gious societies. 

RELIGIOUS  SOCIETIES. 

Rev.  Phipps  W.  Lake,  an  early  settler  of  Walworth,  organized  the  Bap- 
tist society  in  1840  at  the  home  of  Charles  M.  Baker,  a  Presbyterian,  but 
not  too  much  narrowed  by  his  creed.  Between  1844  and  1847  a  church 
was  built  at  a  cost  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  and  was  rebuilt  in  1868  at  fur- 
ther cost  of  seventeen  hundred  dollars.  Though  for  some  years  fairly  pros- 
perous, the  society  was  relatively  poorer  than  at  Delavan,  Elkhorn  and  East 
Troy.  At  a  business  meeting  April  5,  1907.  it  was  suggested  that  it  was 
better  to  build  a  new  church  than  to  repair  the  old  one,  and  the  pastor  was 
asked  to  call  another  meeting.  Ten  days  later  it  was  determined,  without 
dissent,  to  build,  and  a  committee  was  directed  to  canvass  for  subscriptions. 
In  two  weeks  two  thousand  three  hundred  dollars  had  been  pledged;  but  this, 
with  a  legacy  of  nearly  one  thousand  dollars  from  Mrs.  H.  H.  Hawks,  was 
not  enough.  Appeal  to  the  state  convention  at  last  brought  five  thousand 
dollars  from  the  Judson  A.  Roundy  Inquest.  The  society  was  encouraged 
to  new  effort  and  in  1910  a  fine  new  church  was  built  in  modern  style  at  a  cost 
of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  dedicated  January  13,  191 1.  In  its  corner- 
stone were  deposited,  among  other  things,  a  carefully  prepared  historical  ac- 
count of  the  society  and  a  list  of  its  pastors.  Both  of  these  papers  were  the 
work  of  Mrs.  Amelia  (Beardsley)  Arnold  who,  as  a  child,  had  known  Mr. 
Lake  well  and  in  her  later  life  most  or  all  of  his  successors. 

Phipps  Waldo  Lake  came  in  1840.  and  for  a  short  time  in  1N45;  I'eter 
Conrad,  1844;  Joel  W.  Fish,  December.  1N45.  and  in  1885;  Caleb  Blood, 
1852;  P.  H.  Parks.  1855;  Xoah  Barrel!.  1857,  and  in  1863:  Samuel  Jones, 
1858:  Thomas  Bright,  1859;  Elijah  M.  Nye,  [865;  Rodney  Gilbert,  1867; 
Enoch  P.  Dye,  1869;  John  D.  Pulis,  1872;  James  Buchanan,  1874;  J.  E. 
Roberts,  1876;  James  Edminster,  1 S 7 7 ;  Joshua  I-'.,  \mbrose,  18K0;  Levi  D. 
Temple,  1882;  William  Mekee,  [884;  Charles  li.  Lade.  [886;  John  H.  Hig- 
by,  1888;  Robert  Gray,   1893;  James   I'.   Whyte,   [896;   Peter  Clark  Wright, 


„g  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

1897  and  1901  ;  !ohn  A.  Monk,  1900;  Emory  L.  Cole,  1902;  James  A.  Lar- 
son, 1904;  Rov  H.  Barrett,  1905;  George  Gladstone  Laughlin,  1908.  Elder 
Barrell,  born  in  1794,  died  in  1875 ;  his  wife  was  Ann  E.  Pierce  (1804-1865). 
Both  were  buried  at  Lake  Geneva.  Elder  Lake  (  1789-1866)  and  wife,  Re- 
becca Beardsley  (1792-1884),  were  buried  at  Walworth. 

As  early  as  1842  Rev.  Thomas  Morrissey  came  from  Milwaukee  period- 
ically to  minister  to  Catholic  families  about  Lake  Geneva.  Vicar-general 
Kundig  organized  the  parish  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  in  1847,  and  its  members 
have  since  built  two  or  three  churches.  The  last  is  a  well-built  and  well-fur- 
nished building,  near  the  east  end  of  Main  street,  a  well-chosen  site.  It  was 
built  within  the  period  of  Father  Reilly's  pastorate,  at  a  cost  of  eighteen 
thousand  dollars.  Its  fine  organ  was  the  gift  of  Patrick  J.  Healy,  of  Chicago. 
A  suitable  rectory,  a  convenient  hall  for  social  and  other  entertainments  and 
a  cemetery  are  included  in  the  now  valuable  church  property. 

The  first  resident  priest  was  Patrick  McKernan,  1847,  after' whom  were 
P.  L  Pander,  [849;  Franz  Fusseder,  [850;  P.  J.  Mallon,  1854:  H.  P.  Ken- 
ney,  George  H.  Brennan,  1856;  James  Stehle.  1857  and  1862;  Henry  J. 
Roche,  1861:  Edward  O'Connor,  1863;  F.  O'Farrell,  [867  (died);  A.  L. 
David.  [867;  James  F.  Kinsella,  [867;  Benedict  J.  Smeddinck,  1868;  Eugene 
M.  McGinnity,  1872:  John  J.  Kinsella,  1873;  Nicholas  M.  Zirnmer,  1874; 
Michael  Wenker,  about  1883;  Eugene  Reilly,  1884:  Bernard  Joseph  Burke, 
1908.  Parish  records  and  other  sources  of  information  show  some  disagree- 
ments and  uncertainties  as  to  initials,  order  of  succession  and  dates;  but  the 
foregoing  list  is  nearly  full  and  correct.  Rev.  Martin  Kundig,  whose  early 
labors  in  this  as  in  many  another  county  are  memorable,  was  born  in  the 
Swiss  canton  of  Schwytz,  November  19,  1805;  came  to  Cincinnati  in  [828, 
where  he  was  ordained;  in  [833  to  Detroit,  whence  he  came,  in  1842,  to  Mil- 
waukee, and  in  [844  became,  under  Rt.  Rev.  John  Martin  llenni.  vicar-gen- 
eral of  the  diocese.     He  died  March  6,  1879. 

\  society  of  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  was  formed  in  1839 
and  built  its  church,  the  first   Presbyterian,  of  oak  lumber  in    1841   al  a  cost 
of  five  hundred  dollars.     A  new  church,  on  the  same  lot,  was  begun  in  [851 
and   finished  in  two  years,  at   a  cost  of  two  thousand   five  hundred  dollars. 
Beginning  with  thirteen  members,  the  society's  increase  was  mostly  Congre- 
gationalism and  in   [883   Formallj   changed  its  name  to  First  Congregational 
church.     The  societ)   laid  the  cornerstone  of  its  third  church  July  24.  1897, 
dedii  tted  tlic  finished  building  January   10.   [898.     This  church  property 
valued   at    twenty-five  thousand   dollars.     Pastors:     Lemuel   Hall,    1839; 
I  eonard  Rogei      [841;  G    R.  French,   [843;  Homer  H.  Benson.  1844:  Ed- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  $37 

ward  Goddard  Miner,  1855  and  1867;  Charles  Morgan,  1857;  William  S. 
Mather,  i860;  Peter  S.  Van  Nest,  1861 ;  Richard  Brockway  Bull,  1875; 
George  Cady,  1893;  William  Jay  Cady,  1893;  Cyrus  A.  Osborne,  1897;  John 
W.  Wilson,  1902  to  1912.  Mr.  Bull  was  born  in  1820,  died  1888;  Mr.  Hall, 
1795-1868;  Mr.  Van  Nest,  1813-1893. 

Rt.  Rev.  Jackson  Kemper  came  as  early  as  1844  to  administer  com- 
munion to  a  few  persons,  and  from  time  to  time  sent  mission  workers  to  this 
field.  In  1850  the  Episcopal  parish  of  the  Holy  Communion  was  organized, 
and  in  1857  the  society  bought  the  disused  Presbyterian  church  and  occupied 
it  until  it  could  build  a  chapel  on  its  own  ground  at  Geneva  and  Broad 
streets.  In  1880  the  cornerstone  of  a  permanent  building  was  laid  and  in 
1883  the  new  church  was  consecrated.  Its  material  is  glacier-borne  boulders 
of  various  granites,  hewn  to  architectural  fitness,  and  its  cost,  with  organ  and 
other  furnishings,  was  more  than  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Its  resident  rec- 
tors have  been  John  McNamara,  1850  and  1856;  William  S.  Ludlum,  1852; 
Gerrit  E.  Peters,  1853;  William  H.  Studley,  1854;  John  H.  Gasman,  1859; 
William  Dafter,  1861 ;  George  N.  James,  1864;  John  Henry  Babcock,  1866; 
William  C.  Armstrong,  1867;  Robert  B.  Wolseley,  1874;  Richard  Thomas 
Kerfoot,  1876;  William  Wirt  Raymond,  1887;  Isaac  Newton  Marks,  1892; 
Herbert  Chessall  Boissier,  1907. 

Rev.  Carl  F.  Goldammer  organized  an  Evangelical  Lutheran  society  in 
1879  and  dedicated  its  church  May  4,  1884.  His  successors  have  been: 
August'F.  Graebner,  [885;  Ileinrich  Gieschen,  1887;  Ernst  F.  Schubert, 
Bernhardt  Albert  Oehlert.  1899;  Herman  A.  Fleischer.  1904.  A  new  church 
was  built  in  1891-2  and  the  old  one  then  became  a  parish  schoolhouse.  These 
buildings,  with  a  parsonage,  and  lots,  in  Walworth  street  near  Crawford  street, 
are  valued  at  six  thousand  dollars.  The  society  now  includes  about  sevent) 
families. 

Mr.  Schubert  with  twelve  families  separated  from  this  society  in  1899 
and  built  a  new  church  and  parsonage  at  Park  Row  and  Warren  street.  This 
church  has  basement  story  fitted  for  its  use  as  a  parish  schoolhouse.  The 
property  is  valued  at  five  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Schubert's  further  stay  was 
short,  and  he  was  followed  in  the  same  year  by  E.  A.  Kurtz,  in  1902,  by 
Peter  Christian  Boysen,  in  [906  by  Ernst  Junghans  In  [909  Mr.  I'.nvsen 
returned  and  also  ministers  to  the  church  at  Genoa  function. 

A  class  of  six  or  seven  persons  met  in  1837  to  form  a  Methodist  Epis- 
copal society.    A  church  with  parsonage  was  built  in  1855-6  on  lots  at  Madi- 
son and  Wisconsin  streets,  facing  the  park,  at  a  cost  of  two  thousand  dollars. 
(22) 


338  WALWORTH     COUNTVT,    WISCONSIN. 

These  lots  had  been  set  apart  for  this  purpose  by  the  proprietors  of  the  vil- 
lage. In  the  meantime  service  was  held  in  a  primitive  school  house.  The 
society  began  to  build  again  in  1877,  at  Cook  and  Geneva  streets,  also  facing 
the  park.  It  was  finished  and  dedicated  in  1884,  and  with  parsonage  its  cost 
was  about  thirteen  thousand  dollars.  The  names  of  pastors,  as  nearly  as  can 
now  be  shown,  were  Samuel  Pillsbury,  1838;  Jesse  Halstead,  1839;  James 
McKean,  1839;  David  Worthington,  1841  ; -Jewett  ar|d  Decker,  in  1842; 
Jonathan  M.  Snow,  1843;  John  Crummer,  1845:  Joseph  C.  Parks,  1846; 
Joseph  M.  Walker,  1847;  Robert  Blackburn,  1848:  R.  Dudgeon,  1850;  Au- 
rora Callender,  1851  ;  O.  F.  Comfort,  1852;  Aaron  Griswold,  1853;  Joseph 
Anderson,  1855;  Hiram  H.  Hersey.  [857;  David  Hall,  1858:  L.  Salisbury, 
1859;  David  W.  Couch,  1861  :  William  Averill,  1862;  Stephen  Smith,  1863; 
Rossiter  C.  Parsons,  1865;  Norvall  J.  Aplin.  1867;  Henry  Colman.  [869 
and  1885:  Samuel  E.  Willing,  1873;  John  D.  Cole,  1874;  John  L.  Hewitt, 
1875;  Albert  A.  Hoskins.  1876;  Thomas  Clithero,  1878;  Charles  E.  Gold- 
thorp.  1880;  Matthew  Evans.  1882;  Thomas  W.  North.  1888;  John  Jay  Gar- 
vin, 1893;  William  W.  Stevens,  1898;  Rodman  W.  Bosworth,  1899;  Thomas 
DeWitt  Peake,  1900;  Sherman  P.  Young  and  Webster  Millar.  1902;  Charles 
Marcus  Starkweather,  1904;  Frank  Cuthbert  Richardson,  1909. 

SCHOOLS. 

Mrs.  Rebecca  A.  Vail  taught  a  private  school  in  1837  at  a  room  over 
Mr.  Ferguson's  store.  About  the  next  year  a  public  school  house  was  built, 
and  Mary  S.  Brewster  for  the  summer  term  and  Dr.  John  Stacy  for  the 
winter  term  were  first  teachers.  In  1849  a  larger  house  was  ready,  and  its 
two  department  teachers  were  Horatio  B.  Coe  and  Charles  B.  Smith.  A 
wing  was  added  in  1854.  A  new  house  was  built  in  1867  at  a  cost  of  eighteen 
thousand  dollars,  including  its  furnishings.  This  was  in  Wisconsin  street, 
looking  southward  upon  the  park,  as  designed  at  the  village  platting.  It  was 
burned  December  25,  1903,  and  in  the  next  year  rebuilt  of  pressed  red  brick 
and  in  plain  good  taste.  Mr.  Simmons  did  not  note  the  beginning  of  the 
high  school,  but  it  may  have  been  about  1865,  practically,  if  not  formally. 
In  1895  it  was  placed  temporarily  in  the  seminary  building,  which  the  city 
had  bought.  After  the  lire  of  11)03  a  separate  building  was  placed  beside  that 
for  the  grades,  of  like  materials  and  in  like  plainly  imposing  style  of  archi- 
tecture. Sixteen  teachers  are  employed  in  these  schools,  the  head  of  which 
is  called  city  superintendent.  The  jurisdiction  of  this  officer,  independent  of 
the  count)  superintendency,  includes  two  other  schools. 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  '  339 

As  a  school  district  Lake  Geneva  reaches  into  the  westward  sections  be- 
tween the  lakes.  That  part  beyond  the  corporate  limits  has  for  long  been 
known  as  the  "woods  district,"  though  there  is  now  nothing  sylvan  in  the 
surroundings  or  in  school  management.  A  brick  house  was  built  in  1886, 
replacing  an  old  one,  on  the  road  to  Delavan,  in  the  edge  of  section  33.  Its 
present  teacher,  A.  Pierre  Deignan,  was  as  a  child  an  early  resident  of  the 
city  or  its  vicinity,  and  has  been  well  tried  in  this  and  other  public  service. 
A  new  house  was  built  in  the  third  ward  in  1888,  and  is  under  the  city 
superintendency. 

In  1858  O.  Sherman  Cook  opened  a  select  school.  Early  in  1859  Se- 
linda  J.  Gardner  was  at  its  head.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Elijah  R.  Gardner 
and  Rebecca  Powers,  and  in  1885,  as  widow  of  Dr.  H.  Hitchcock,  of  Chicago, 
she  was  married  to  Rev.  Franklin  W.  Fisk.  In  autumn  Anna  Wealthy  Moody 
came  and  continued  this  school  until  March,  1863.  Her  quality  and  success 
as  a  teacher  suggested  another  enterprise,  and  in  1864  a  stock  company  built 
the  Lake  Geneva  Seminary,  east  of  the  outlet,  at  a  cost  of  seven  thousand 
dollars.  This  property  was  sold  in  1869  to  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Warner,  under 
whose  management  the  school,  which  was  chartered  in  1871,  continued  for 
several  years.  For  boarding  non-resident  pupils  the  old  Geneva  Hotel  was 
rented  for  two  years,  and  in  1873  a  boarding  house,  of  brick,  was  built  near 
the  school.  The  exact  year,  later  than  1885,  in  which  the  seminary  was 
closed  is  not  shown ;  but  the  property  was  used  occasionally  thereafter  for 
select  schools.  In  1895  it  was  sold  to  the  city.  After  its  use  as  a  high  school 
it  was  condemned  as  unsafe  or  unsanitary,  and  all  these  buildings  were  pulled 
away.    Of  the  ample  ground  an  attractive  lakeside  park  has  been  made. 

Among  Mrs.  Warner's  assistants  are  remembered  Miss  Mary,  daughter 
of  George  Allen,  of  Linn,  and  Miss  Kate  Headley,  daughter  of  Rev.  Alvah 
Lilly,  of  Whitewater.  One  of  Mr.  Cook's  enterprises  was  a  normal  music 
school,  in  1879,  which  for  a  few  years  called  pupils  from  other  towns  and 
states. 

The  principals  of  the  public  school,  as  far  as  learned,  were :  Elias  (  ?) 
Dewey,  1855;  Dr.  Andrew  J.  Rodman,  1856;  O.  Sherman  Cook,  1858;  Rich- 
ard D.  Carmichael,  1859;  II.  \Y.  Allen,  1861 ;  Horatio  B.  Coe,  [862; 
Orville  T.  Bright,  1863;  Osmore  R.  Smith,  1864;  Warren  D.  Parker,  1867; 
W.  H.  Wynn,  1869;  John  E.  Burton,  1870;  J.  R.  (or  D.)  Cole,  1873;  An- 
drew J.  Wood,  1874;  Walter  Allen,  1877;  Edward  O.  Fiske,  1881 ;  E.  S. 
Ray,  1883;  Joseph  H.  Gould,  1884-91;  A.  F.  Bartlett,  1892;  John  Foster, 
1899;  Harry  W.  Snow,  1902;  Edmund  Decatur  Denison,  1007; 
Jay  Mitchell  Beck,   191 1.     With  city  government  principals  became  superin- 


340  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

tendents.  Mr.  Carmichael  enlisted  early  in  1861  in  Company  F,  Fourth  In- 
fantry, and  died  at  DeSoto  Point,  Louisiana,  opposite  Vicksburg,  July  8, 
1862. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

In  July,  1848,  David  M.  Keeler  published  the  first  number  of  the  Wis- 
consin Standard,  and  discontinued  it  one  year  later. 

Edgar  J.  Farnum  began  the  Geneva  Express  in  1854,  or  earlier;  for  in 
June  of  that  year  he  with  his  brother,  Alonzo  L.,  began  the  Independent,  at 
Elkhorn.  Lemuel  Franklin  Leland  (better  known  as  Frank  Leland)  and 
George  S.  Utter  continued  the  lis  press  until  the  spring  of  1857,  when  they,  too 
passed  over  to  Elkhorn  with  their  little  printing  equipment.  In  1858  Henry 
L.Devereaux  came  to  publish  the  Genevan  for  eighteen  months.  In  i860 
George  S.  Utter  came  back  and  for  a  year  published  the  Geneva  Lake  Mirror, 
having  John  T.  Wentworth  as  its  editor.  About  1871  Mr.  Leland  divided 
his  weekly  edition,  heading  it,  for  his  subscribers  at  and  near  the  lake,  Geneva 
Independent.  To  give  better  color  to  this  device  be  engaged  John  E.  Burton 
as  editor  of  a  column  or  so  local  to  Geneva,  which  displaced  a  like  space 
of  Elkhorn  gossip.  This,  of  course,  was  to  prevent  or  delay  the  appearance 
of  another  real  Geneva  newspaper;  and,  of  course,  it  hastened  that  which 
he  tried  thus  to  prevent.  In  April.  [872,  Air.  Utter  came  back  once  more 
to  publish  the  Lake  Geneva  Herald.  Mr.  Burton,  then  principal  of  the  public 
school,  Rev.  John  D.  Pulis,  of  the  Baptist  church,  Rev.  Edward  G.  Miner,  of 
the  Congregational  church,  were  named  as  editors — but  Mr.  Burton's  asso- 
ciates were  much  like  the  "side  judges''  of  the  county  courts  of  common  pleas 
in  New  York  from  1  S_>^  to  1X47.  These  courts  supplied  mam  men  .11 
home  and  in  the  west  with  an  honorable  title,  hut  the  opinions  of  their  Honors 
had  little  influence  on  the  first  judges,  each  of  whom  was  in  effect  his  whole 
court.  Mr.  Burton  planned  and  moved  and  only  he,  in  that  panic  period, 
could  have  made  the  Herald  at  once  and  permanently  successful  at  Lake 
Geneva.  It  was  as  large  as  any  paper  in  the  county,  all  home-printed  and 
will  printed,  and  on  each  page  in  every  week  the  village,  with  its  current 
affairs  and  its  near  and  distant  prospects,  were  "writ  large."  The  office  was 
liberally  equipped  for  all  the  business  that  was  likely  to  be  brought  to  a  vil- 
lage printer.     Mr.  Burton  learned  his  new  calling  quickly,  and  in  April,  1873, 

ne  sole  owner  and  editor.  Three  years  later  he  sold  forty-nine  one- 
hundredths  of  the  establishment  to  Albert  1).  Waterbury,  and  in  1877  James 
Edmund  Heg  and  Mr.  Waterbury  became  equal  and  only  owners.  Mr.  Heg, 
a  son  of  Col.  Hans  C.  Heg,  who  was  killed  at  Chickamauga,  was  then  recent- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  34  I 

ly  graduated  from  Beloit  College,  and  he  turned  easily  to  editorship.  Mr. 
Waterbury  retired  in  1878  and  John  E.  Nethercut  became  in  1888  Mr.  Heg's 
partner,  and  since  1895  has  been  the  Herald's  owner,  editor,  and  printer.  This 
paper  was  always  Republican  and  since  1904  has  been  "stalwart." 

Charles  H.  Burdick  and  George  E.  Earley  began  in  1879  a  daily  paper, 
having  its  presswork  done  at  Elgin.  Within  a  few  weeks  Mr.  Burdick,  as 
remaining  owner,  sold  whatever  there  was  to  buy  to  Joseph  S.  Badger,  who 
equipped  the  Lake  Geneva  Mews  as  a  weekly  paper.  His  brother,  Charles  E. 
Badger,  seems  to  have  been  associated  with  him  until  1883.  These  young 
men,  who  were  good  printers,  were  sons  of  Prof.  Joseph  A.  Badger,  for  some 
time  principal  of  Walworth  Academy.  About  1883  Asa  K.  Owen  replaced 
the  younger  Badger,  and  in  1885  was  left  to  his  own  pleasant  editorial  de- 
vices. N.  W.  Smails  in  1895,  Walter  A.  McAfferty  in  1899,  and  the  Lake 
Geneva  Publishing  Company  since  1905  were  the  later  owners.  -One  of  the 
later  editors  was  Frederick  Kull,  of  an  old  county  family.  At  present  Frank 
M.  Higgins  is  manager  and  editor.  This  paper  has  always  been  Republican — 
formerly  in  an  independent  way  and  latterly  in  the  way  of  the  progressive 
element  of  the  party. 

YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION. 

A  Young  Men's  Committee,  formed  in  November,  1881,  became  in 
June,  1883,  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  which  was  incorporated  in 
1888.  In  October,  1890,  Mrs.  George  Sturges  gave  to  this  body,  for  two 
years,  the  use  of  her  cottage  and  ground  at  the  oblique  meeting  of  Main  and 
Lake  streets.  In  1893  an<^  :^94  the  association  acquired  lots  and  buildings  in 
Main  street,  and  afterward  established  itself  in  a  brick  building  of  its  own  at 
Main  and  Cook  streets,  the  upper  story  of  which  is  a  large  auditorium. 

PUBLIC    LIBRARIES. 

Mr.  Simmons  noted  that  a  public  reading  room  was  opened  in  Walker's 
block,  Main  street,  December  31,  1877.  Its  books  were  supplied  chiefly  from 
private  libraries.  In  1889  this  first  public  library  was  transferred  to  the  care 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  These  five  hundred  volumes  were 
materially  increased  by  liberal  gifts  of  summer  residents.  In  the  summer  of 
1894  Mrs.  Mary  Delafield  Sturges  gave  her  house  and  ground,  previously 
tenanted  by  the  association,  to  the  city  for  its  use  as  a  library  and  park.  This 
was  conditional,  but  it  was  only  required  that  the  city  should  buy  the  rest  of 


342  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

the  little  block  and  should  vacate  so  much  of  Lake  street  as  lay  between  the 
block  and  the  water's  edge.  This  gift  was  most  willingly  accepted  and  the 
conditions  were  fulfilled  at  once.  The  inner  arrangement  of  the  house  was 
so  changed  as  to  make  it  convenient  for  its  purpose,  until  it  may  be  found 
practicable  to  replace  it  with  a  fire-proof  building  of  suitable  design.  The 
public  library  was  opened  in  the  same  year  with  2,300  volumes  in  hand,  and 
it  now  has  nearly  5,000  volumes.  The  circulation  of  books  in  the  first  year 
was  about  20,000  volumes,  and  has  not  since  varied  widely.  Miss  Gertrude 
T.  Noyes,  now  and  for  some  years  past  librarian,  is  a  granddaughter  of  the 
young  Ulysses  of  the  Brink-Payne  war.  Both  she  and  her  assistant.  Miss 
Eugenia  C.  Gillette,  are  daughters  of  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war. 

BANKS. 

Erasmus  D.  Richardson  began  his  private  banking  business  in  1848,  and 
until  his  death,  in  1892,  his  bank  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  soundest  in  the 
state.  It  had  weathered  the  storm-and-stress  periods  of  1857  and  1873,  and 
his  ability  and  character  were  not  doubted;  but,  at  settlement  of  his  affairs 
the  concern  was  found  partially  insolvent.  The  First  National  Bank  of  Lake 
Geneva  opened,  with  capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  under  the  presidency 
of  Frank  Leland  with  John  A.  Kennedy  as  cashier.  It  is  now  in  business 
with  Levi  A.  Nichols  as  president  and  Josiah  Barfield  as  cashier.  The  Farm- 
ers National  Bank  was  organized  in  1900  with  Dwight  S.  Allen  as  president 
and  E.  D.  Richardson  (who  is  not  a  relative  of  the  pioneer  banker)  as  cashier. 
Its  present  officers  are  Albert  S.  Robinson,  president;  F.  E.  Wormood,  cash- 
ier. Its  capital  is  fifty  thousand  dollars.  These  banks  are  quartered  in  new 
and  in  every  way  suitable  buildings,  and  so  furnished  as  to  suggest  at  once 
security,  convenience  and  business-like  elegance. 

W   \  I  ERWORKS  AND  ELECTRIC  LIGHTS. 

James  E.  Heg,  Dr.  James  C.  Reynolds  and  W.  H.  Wheeler  proposed  in 
January,  1890,  to  build  ami  operate  a  city  system  of  waterworks  and  electric 
lights.  The  council  gave  them  a  franchise  for  fifteen  years,  agreeing  to  pay 
yearly  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  use  of  water  and  seventy- 
five  dollars  yearly  for  each     treel   light.     Needful  buildings,  engine,  well  of 

thousand  two  hundred  feet  depth,  and  tower  were  at  once  provided  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year  live  miles  of  pipe  had  been  laid,  and  later  exten- 
sions have  mel  the  growing  demand.     In  [894  the  company  procured  a  lease 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  343 

of  the  water  power.  In  March,  1896,  Herbert  E.  Haskins  supplied  the  stores 
and  homes  with  incandescent  lights.  A  new  company  was  formed  in  1897, 
taking  the  place  of  the  old  one.  It  is  styled  the  Equitable  Electric  Light 
Company.  Its  buildings  with  machinery  are  on  the  site  of  the  Warren  grist 
mill.  At  present  the  officers  are  Charles  S.  French,  president ;  James  G. 
Allen,  secretary  and  treasurer;  John  S.  Allen,  manager.  These,  with  Mary 
C.  Allen,  are  directors. 

FISHING  AND  NAVIGATION. 

The  area,  depth  and  clearness  of  the  Genevan  water  invited  navigators 
and  fishers.  Bass,  catfish,  ciscoes,  perch,  pickerel,  suckers  and  other  kinds 
native  to  the  lake,  abounded.  Since  1874  millions  of  young  fry — bass,  salmon, 
trout  and  other  game  fish — have  been  added  from  the  state's  hatcheries.  This 
culture  has  also  engaged  the  attention  and  interest  of  public-spirited  Chicago 
owners  of  lakeside  estate.  In  1858  E.  F.  Brewster  brought  from  Fox  river 
the  steamer  ''Atlanta."  of  twenty  tons.  It  was  sixty-five  feet  long,  twelve 
feet  abeam,  and  could  carry  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons.  Edward 
Ouigley  launched  the  "Lady  of  the  Lake,''  a  larger  boat,  in  1873.  A  yet 
larger  steamer,  the  "Lucius  Newberry,"  home-built,  was  launched  in  1875  and 
was  burned  in  1891  as  the  "City  of  Lake  Geneva."  In  1883  three  steamers 
were  sold  and  two  new  ones  launched.  There  were  then  nineteen  steamers 
afloat.  In  1890  six  new  ones  were  added,  three  of  which  were  home-built. 
In  19 10  the  assessed  value  of  the  lake  fleet  was  nearly  forty  thousand  dollars, 
and  its  true  value  was  placed  at  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 

CEMETERIES. 

The  old  burying  ground  was  placed  well  westward  from  the  village  plat, 
but  in  time  was  overtaken  and  enclosed  by  the  growth  of  the  city.  It  lies 
between  Maxwell  and  Warren  streets,  with  Dodge  street  southward,  and  falls 
a  few  rods  short  of  Park  Row.  It  is  kept  in  order,  as  is  most  becoming;  for 
on  its  shafts  and  headstones  may  be  read  names  often  mentioned  in  these 
pages,  inseparable  from  local  history.  It  was  in  its  day  creditable  to  the  taste 
and  feeling  of  Genevans.  It  had  become  evident  in  1880  that  more  room  was 
needed.  A  new  place  was  chosen,  in  its  area  forty  acres,  on  a  high  knoll  north 
the  city.  It  i>  supplied  with  water  from  a  deep  well  on  the  ground  and 
from  the  city  waterworks.  Lake  Geneva  cemetery  overlooks  the  city,  part 
of  the  lake,  and  miles  of  surrounding  country.  In  planning  it  and  in  caring 
for  it  nothing  that  should  have  been  done  has  been  left  undone. 


344  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

THE   LAKE   SHORE. 

Since  the  city  itself  stretches  along  the  greater  part  of  that  shore  line 
which  is  of  the  town  of  Geneva  most  of  the  owners  of  lake  front  property, 
on  each  side,  are  of  the  town  of  Linn  and  those  at  the  upper  end  of  the  lake 
are  of  Walworth.  The  city  is  their  principal  port  of  entry,  so  to  say,  though 
Williams  Bay  and  Fontana  are  also  reached  by  rail  from  Chicago.  Dr.  Philip 
Maxwell,  then  in  service  as  an  army  surgeon,  had  invested  as  early  as  1836  in 
the  claim  at  the  mill  section,  and  soon  afterward  entered  land  in  sections  15, 
26,  27  of  Walworth.  Leaving  the  army  in  1842,  he  settled  into  professional 
practice  at  Chicago,  and  in  1853  became  state  treasurer  of  Illinois.  In  1856 
he  built  a  large  house  on  his  lakeside  property  at  Geneva  and  brought  his 
family  there  as  summer  residents.  This  was  held  at  Springfield  to  disqualify 
him  as  an  officer  of  Illinois,  whereupon  he  became  a  resident  of  Geneva  until 
his  death  in  1859.  It  is  told  that  he  advised  a  son-in-law  to  acquire  all  the 
shore  land  that  could  then  be  secured,  assuring  him  that  great  profit  would 
arise  therefrom  and  that,  too,  in  time  not  long  to  come.  This  wise  counsel 
was  not  followed,  though  much  of  the  land  might  have  been  bought  at  twen- 
ty-five dollars  an  acre. 

Gurdon  Montague  sold  in  1870  ninety  acres  lying  in  section  35,  having 
a  front  on  the  lake  near  its  bay-like  end,  to  Shelton  Sturges.  of  Chicago, 
who  in  the  next  year  built  a  large  house  or  villa  on  the  wooded  slope  outside 
of  the  village  plat,  but  in  full  view  from  the  eastern  side  of  the  bay.  Julian  S. 
Rumsey,  an  ex-mayor  of  Chicago,  built  at  the  eastern  end  in  1872.  These 
three  examples  were  well  followed  and  both  shores  are  lined  with  summer 
retreats  built  for  permanence,  much  more  substantially  than  bungalows,  their 
grounds  improved  without  needless  violence  to  nature.  As  seen  from  mid- 
lake  the  view  on  either  hand  is  not  marred,  but  its  native  charm  is  heightened; 
for  the  least  possible  has  been  taken  away  and  much  has  been  added  with 
taste  and  judgment.  Most  of  these  dwellers  by  the  waterside,  perhaps,  own 
one  or  more  vessels  of  the  lake  fleel :  and  their  influence  on  road-making  and 
other  public  improvement  has  been  more  or  less  salutary.  The  building,  im- 
proving and  service  of  their  houses  and  grounds  employ  many  local  artisans 
and  laborers,  and  so  contribute  to  the  city's  general  prosperity.  In  effect, 
these  owners,  of  whom  many  have  been  or  are  of  the  wealthiest  and  best 
known  of  Chicago,  have  made  these  shores  as  truly  suburban  of  their  city 
a-  a-  insti  hi  ami  Rogers  Park. 

A  p"  \  as  established  in   1K37.  its  one  weekly  mail  brought  from 

Racine  by  way  of  Franklin  (Spring  Prairie).     Solomon  Harvey,  of  the  lat- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  345 

ter  village,  carried  the  mail  in  his  hat  and  coat  pockets,  and  often  rode  his 
horse  into  Geneva  with  a  bag  of  grain  behind  him  for  grinding  at  Goodsell's 
mill.  A  stage  route  from  Kenosha  to  Beloit,  in  1840,  increased  the  useful- 
ness of  the  postoffice.  It  is  now  an  office  of  the  second  class,  and  has  a  city- 
carrier  system  and  four  rural  free  delivery  routes.  Postmasters :  Andrew 
Ferguson,  1837;  James  J.  Dewey,  1849;  Timothy  C.  Smith,  1853;  Lewis 
Curtis,  1861;  Charles  E.  Buell,  1871 ;  Charles  A.  Noyes,  1879;  William 
Brown,  1886:  George  S.  Read,  1890:  William  J.  Cutteridge,  1894;  Charles 
S.  French,  1898;  Frank  S.  Moore,  1906;  Henry  H.  White,  1910.  Buell  and 
Noyes  had  been  soldiers  of  the  Civil  war. 

Much  must  be  left  untold  or  scarce  half-told  of  this  city  by  the  lake. 
But  this  matters  little,  for  there  are  men  and  women  there  who,  like  Mr. 
Simmons,  can  write  in  prose  or  verse  and  who,  like  him,  might  say  that 
they  were  a  part  of  that  of  which  they  write.  The  recollections  of  one  per- 
son or  one  person's  gathering  of  many  recollections  must  still  leave  the  story 
incomplete.  Nor  need  the  past  be  recalled  in  all  its  minor  though  locally  in- 
teresting details.  Cities  are  not  Aladdin-built,  by  rubbing  rings  or  lamps. 
One  who  now  sees  broad,  dustless  streets,  shaded  by  day  and  lighted  by 
night,  with  all  needful  evidence  besides  of  past  and  present  intelligence,  enter- 
prise, and  high  hopefulness,  and  who  meets  men  and  women  who  know  how 
to  enjoy  the  present  and  to  make  better  the  time  near  at  hand,  needs  not 
the  minuter  record  of  uneven  and  often  difficult  steps  by  which  they  have 
reached  the  prosperity  and  bright  prospects  of  1912.  Lake  Geneva  has  many 
as  yet  unsatisfied  wants,  but  contentment  with  the  present  is  not  the  most 
conspicuous  of  American  virtues. 

VILLAGE  AND  CITY  CHARTERS. 

The  village  of  Geneva  was  chartered  in  1844.  At  its  first  election  Charles 
M.  Goodsell  became  president,  and  with  him  was  a  board  of  trustees,  a  ma- 
jority of  whom  were  temperance  men.  This  they  proved  by  an  ordinance 
which  forbade  the  sale  or  gift  of  liquor  after  July  2d.  Thomas  D.  Warren 
was  convicted  and  fined  for  having  sold  the  evil  prohibited,  over  the  Lake 
House  bar,  on  the  nation's  birthday.  He  appealed  to  the  territorial  district 
court,  but  a  change  of  statute  overtook  the  slow  course  of  the  law  and  at 
last  the  proceeding  was  dropped;  but,  as  it  may  be  guessed,  without  loss  to 
learned  counsel.  The  next  legislative  session  took  from  the  trustees  and 
gave  to  the  town  supervisors  the  power  of  granting  or  withholding  licenses, 
and  Geneva  was  not  again  tormented  by  thirst.     For  eleven  years  the  village 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


record,  if  ever  regularly  made,  was  lost.     Of  early  presidents  Mr.  Simmons 
remembered  only  R.  Wells  Warren,  Benjamin  E.  Gill  and  Anthony  Dobbs. 

A  new  charter  was  given  March  28,  1856,  to  an  enlarged  village'  of 
Geneva,  and  this  was  amended  in  1867.  In  1879  the  citizens  voted  to  set 
aside  their  special  charter  and  to  incorporate  under  a  general  statute  for 
government  of  villages.  About  fifty  miles  southward  is  Geneva,  Kane  coun- 
ty, Illinois,  and  mail  was  often  missent  to  each  of  these  namesake  villages. 
To  relieve  the  Wisconsin  village  from  this  long  endured  annoyance  its  name 
was  changed  in  1882  to  Lake  Geneva.  An  act  of  the  Legislature  of  1885 
enabled  the  citizens  to  accept  a  city  charter  at  an  election  held  March  31, 
1886.      In  1897  Lake  Geneva  became  a  statutory  city  of  the  fourth  class. 

PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  VILLAGE. 


Erasmus  Darwin  Richardson 1856 

'70-1,  77 
Harrison  Rich  to  fill  vacancy. 

Dr.  Alexander  S.  Palmer 1857-8 

James  J.   Dewey 1859 

Shepard  O.  Raymond 1860-1 

Moses  Seymour 1862 

Joel   Barber 1863,  '68 

Jonathan  H.  Ford 1864 

Edward  Quigley 1865 


Ethan  Lamphere  Gilbert 1866 

Joel   C.    Walter 1867 

Timothy  Clark  Smith 1869 

Samuel  Henry  Stafford 1872,  '79 

Dr.  Benoni  O.  Reynolds 1874-6, 

'80-2 

Dr.  George  E.  Catlin 1878 

Maurice  A.  Miner 1883-4 

Charles  Edwin  Buell 1885 


VILLAGE  CLERKS. 


Jonathan  T.  Abell 1856-66 

John  A.  Smith 1867-8 

Erasmus  D.   Richardson 1869 

Stephen  Bemis  Van  Buskirk 1870 

1  harles  Edwin  Buell 1871 

ll'iman   E.   Allen 1872 


John  E.  Burton 1873 

Maurice  A.  Miner 1874,  '76-9 

["nomas   Henry    Ferguson 1875 

Charles  S.  French__ 1880-4 

Charles   Herbert   Burdick 1885 


VILLAGE  TREASURERS. 


Thpmas  Baker  Gray  (probably)  .1856 

Willi. mi  Jewett   1857 

\\  illiam    L,   Valentine 1858-61 

M    Barber 1862-3 


Schuyler    S.    1  lanna 1864,    '66 

William    11.   Lee 1865,    '69 

Sylvester  Curtis  Sanford__i867,  '71 
William    Alexander 1868 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


347 


George  W.   Sturges 1870,  '74-8     Charles  Edwin  Buell 1880-3 

John  Burton J872-3      Robert    Bruce   Arnold 1884-5 

William   H.   Hammersley 1879 


MAYORS  OF  LAKE  GENEVA. 


John    Bell    Simmons 1886 

Charles  S.  French 1888 

William   H.    Seymour 1892 

Wesley   Xewton  Johnson 1894 

Alexander   T.    Seymour 1895 


Frank  S.  Moore 1898 

Edward   F.    Dunn 1901 

Ebenezer  Davidson 1902 

Horace  Greeley  Douglass 1908 

Frank  Augesty 1912 


CITY    CLERKS. 


Charles   Herbert  Burdick 1886 

Charles   C.    Kestol 1887-8 

Charles  F.  Case 1889-91 

William  H.   Hammersley 1892 


Louis  B.  Warren 1893-4 

Benjamin   O.   Sturges 1895 

Charles  H.  Gardner 1896-1904 

Arthur  G.   Bullock 1905-12 


CITY    TREASURERS. 


Thomas  Baker  Gray,  elected 1886 

William  L.   Valentine 1887-8 

Ephraim  E.  Sanford 1889-90 

Ethan  L.  Gilbert 1891 

Reinhold   Briegel 1892-3,    1901-3 

George   P.   Wheeler 1894-5 

Emery  A.  Buell 1896-7 


Walter  A.  McAfferty 1898-9 

Charles  Lawrie 1900 

William  W.   Ross 1904 

Andrew  E.  Williams 1905 

Lloyd  D.  Sampson 1906,   1910 

Theron  Dallas  Stroupe 1908 

Andrew    Williams 1912 


JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE   FOR  VILLAGE  AND   CITY. 


Warren  Beckwith 1886-91 

William  F.  Best 1910-11 

Lewis  G.   Brown 1901 

Francis   A.   Buckbee 1881-96, 

1902-5 

Hugh  A.  Burdick 1900-1 

Samuel   S.   Case 1881-2 

Bezaleel  W.  Farnum 1865 

Arthur  M.  Kaye 1904-9 


James  Leonard 1908-11 

Cyril  Leach  Oatman 186 1-2, 

'66-9,  '72-3 

Richard  D.  Short 1892-7,  1902-3 

James   Simmons 1873-4 

John  A.  Smith 1867-9 

Theron   Dallas   Stroupe 1905-7 

Thomas  F.  Tolman 1885 

Franklin  J.  Tyrrell 1910 


348  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

John  Theodore  Wentworth Julius  L.  Wind 1900-1 

1863-4,  '70-1 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  Abell  and  Oatman,  with,  perhaps,  a  few  more 
justices  named  in  the  town  list,  were,  in  fact,  chosen  for  the  village,  though 
the  record  at  the  circuit  clerk's  office  does  not  make  it  appear  so. 

POPULATION    AND   VALUATION. 

The  village  population  in  1870  was  998.  In  1880  it  was  1,969.  The 
city  population  in  1890  was  2,297.  In  ^  1900  it  was  2,585.  By  wards  in 
1910:     First  ward,  948;  second  ward,  775;  third  ward,   1,356;  total   for 

city,  3,079. 

Valuation  of  real  estate  in  1910  was  $3,553,000;  of  personal  property, 
$752,000.  (Nineteen  automobiles  were  returned  for  the  city  in  1910,  but 
their  number  now  owned  here  and  about  the  county  has  so  increased  as  to 
make  such  statistic  already  worthless.) 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


TOWN   OF   LAFAYETTE. 


This  town,  at  first  included  in  Spring  Prairie,  was  set  off  March  21, 
1843.  It  is  town  3  north,  range  17  east,  less  section  31,  set  off  in  1846 
to  form  the  town  of  Elkhorn.  Beginning  on  its  north  line,  and  following  the 
direction  of  the  sun,  it  is  bounded  by  Troy,  Spring  Prairie,  Geneva  and 
Elkhorn,  and  Elkhorn  and  Sugar  Creek.  Its  surface  varies  between  855 
and  1,015  feet  above  sea-level — the  lowest  point  a  creek  valley  in  section 
8,  its  highest  near  Elkhorn,  near  section  31.  Sugar  creek  crosses  from 
west  to  east  a  little  north  of  the  middle  line  of  the  town,  and  affords  a 
small  amount  of  mill  power,  but  its  several  branches  are  inconsiderable  in 
volume.  In  the  earlier  years  it  was  well  wooded  with  the  several  varieties 
of  oak,  and  at  points  along  the  creek  with  sugar  maples  from  which  the 
Indian  occupants  of  the/ county  hunting  ground  derived  a  noteworthy  supply 
of  crudely  made  sugar.  A  few  fine  oak  groves  remain,  and  these  are  in 
themselves  more  than  merely  fair  to  look  upon.  Taking  them  with  the 
green  levels  and  the  gently  rolling  fields,  in  the  larger  prospects,  they  make 
the  town  well  worth  a  summer-day  drive  through  it,  in  any  direction,  to 
see  in  what  kindly  mood  was  Nature  when  she  formed  Lafayette.  Nature, 
however,  did  not  work  by  town,  county,  or  state  lines ;  and  this  town  is 
but  a  small  segment  of  the  Eden-like  Mississippi  valley.  The  older  forests 
were  cut  away  to  build  cabins  and  fences  and  for  the  fuel  of  town  and 
neighboring  village.  When  the  railway  was  built  across  the  town  its  de- 
mands for  ties,  timber,  and  fuel  quickened  the  previously  slower  spoliation 
to  the  pace  of  a  forest  fire.  But  the  town  is  far  from  treeless,  thanks  to  the 
valuable  and  carefully  conserved  later  growth. 

The  town  is  underlaid,  as  supposed  by  geologists,  with  Niagara  lime- 
stone for  most  of  its  area,  and  along  its  western  border  with  Cincinnati 
shale.  A  few  borings  have  reached  rock  at  800  to  840  feet  above  sea- 
level,  which  may  indicate  that  the  glacial  drift  is  from  55  to  175  feet  deep. 
The  land  area  is  22,198  acres.  The  total  value,  19 10,  was  $1,650,300.  The 
crop  acreage  was:  Barley,  1,188;  corn,  3,927;  hayfield,  3,124;  oats,  2,532; 
orchard,  98;  potatoes,  99;  rye,  150;  timber,  1,859;  wheat,  102.  The  as- 
sessed valuation  of  all  property  was  3.66  per  cent  of  that  of  all  property 


jgO  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

in  the  county.  The  population  at  each  federal  census  was:  1850,  1,048; 
i860,  1,122;  1870,  1,032;  1880,  1,028;  1890,  933;  1900,  924:0910,  894. 

Neighboring  villages  and  especially  Elkhorn  account  for  a  small  part 
of  this  loss  of  population.  Elderly  farmers  retire  from  active  life  and 
find   rest  in  the  village. 

Before  the  establishment  of  rural  free  delivery  there  was  a  postoffice 
at  Bowers  near  the  junction  of  two  highways  from  Spring  Prairie  to  Elkhorn, 
east  side  of  section  26.  In  earlier  times  this  office  was  a  few  rods  distant 
and  was  named  Grove.  There  was  also  an  office  at  Fayetteville  (which 
railway  men  persistently  call  "Peck's  Station").  The  town  is  now  supplied 
with  its  mail  mostly  from  Elkhorn. 

Isaiah  Hamblin  and  family  led  the  immigration  to  Lafayette  in  June, 
1836.  He  settled  on  section  25,  and  built  his  cabin  immediately.  He 
alsi  1, .bought  land  in  section  13.  Within  the  year  Solomon  A.  Dwinnell, 
Elias  Hicks,  Alpheus  Johnson,  Charles  Chauncey  Perrin  and  Isaac  Vant  fol- 
lowed. Messrs.  Dwinnell  and  Hamblin  passed  the  cold  winter  of  1836-7 
in  their  new  quarters.  In  the  next  three  years  came  Nathaniel  Bell,  William 
Bohall,  Alexander  H.  Bunnell,  Morris  Cain,  Harvey  M<.  Curtiss,  George  W. 
Dwinnell,  David  S.  Elting,  Thomas  Emerson,  Daniel.  McDonough  and 
Samuel  Harkness,  Riley  Harrington,  Daniel  Hartwell,  Charles  Heath,  Mason 
\.  I  licks.  Henry  Johnson,,  Dr.  Jesse  C.  Mills,  Anthony  Xoblet,  Emery 
Singletery,  Duer  Y.  Smith,  Sylvester  G.  Smith.  Daniel  Kingsley  Stearns, 
David  Tower  Vaughn,  John  Wadsworth.  Stephen  Gano  West  and  Jesse 
Pike  West,  his  son. 

Others  who  entered  land  at  the  Milwaukee  office  were  William  Allen, 
George  Franklin  Babcock,  Asahel  Bailey,  Rufus  Barnes,  James  Alexander 
Bell,  Watson  Beman,  Levi  Blossom,  Jr..  Franklin  Ephraim  Booth,  Joseph 
Bowman,  Gershom  P.  Breed,  Edmund  Baldwin  Cherevoy,  Azariah  Clapp, 
Curtis  Clark,  James  Coleman,  James  Craig,  Sprowell  Dean,  Reuben  M. 
Doty,  Julius  Edwards,  Isaac  Fuller,  William  Nicholas  Gardner,  Clement 
Hare,  Thomas  Harrison,  George  Hicks,  Ethan  A.  Hitchcock,  William 
Hodges,  Samuel  M.  and  Willard  K.  Johnson,  Sylvanus  Langdon,  Ambrose 
Brown  Lockwood,  Alexander.  Duncan  and  Murdock  Matheson,  Peter  Nob- 
let,  George  and  Charles  Paine  Osborn,  Jared  Patrick,  Jr.,  Uriah  Payne,  Peter 
Perry,  Robert  K.  Potter,  James  Ouiggle,  Israel  Scott,  George  and  Dewitt 
C.  Sheldon,  Xephaniah  Short,  five  Smiths,  named  Elbert  Herring,  Ezekiel 
Rrown,  Henry,  Horace,  and  Martin,  Ebenezer  Soule,  Lorenzo  Stewart,  Abel 
B.  and  Elijah  B.  Terrill,  John  Trumbull,  Charles  Wales,  Eleazar  Wheelock, 
Joseph  D.  Whiteley,  William  Montague  Whitney,  George  Whitton,  Absalom 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  35 1 

Williams,  Jr.,  Alexander  Wilson,  Christopher  Wiswell,  John  Wood,  Simon 
J.  Woodbury,  Calvin  H.,  George  W.,  and  Robert  Wylie,  George  Young. 

The  census  of  1842  shows  a  few  once  well  known  names  as:  William 
Baumis,  Zebulon  Bugbee,  Israel  Hamblin,  Jacob  Harkness,  Solomon  Lewis, 
Henry  Noblet.  Theodorus  Bailey  Northrop,  Thomas  Pollock,  Sherman  Mor- 
gan Rockwood,  Henry  H.  Sterling,  Charles  H.  Thompson,  ancL  others  who 
may  have  been  of  either  part  of  old  Spring  Prairie. 

Amasa  Allen  (1776-1845)  and  his  son  Lester  (1810-1884)  were  long 
residents   in  the   town.     Lester  died  at   Elkhorn. 

Truman  B.  Bartlett  (1815-1907)  came  from  Vermont  in  1844,  with 
wife  Serena  Strong  (1823-1890)  and  settled  in  Spring  Prairie.  About  1856 
he  bought  his  farm  in  section  6,  Lafayette. 

Major  Nathaniel  Bell  (1800-1868)  was  sheriff  from  1845  to  1849. 
He  came  in  1837  with  his  wife  Sarah  L.  (1809-1847)  and  bought  in  sections 
12,  25,  36. 

Robert  Bentley  (1800-1854)  and  wife  Maria  Burse  (1809-1868)  came 
to  section  5,  in  1847. 

Joseph  H.  Bishop  (1801-1882),  son  of  Levi  Bishop  and  Nancy  Hunt, 
lived  in  section  10.     His  wife  was  Clarissa  R.  Balsley. 

Alexander  Hervey  Bunnell  (1813-1889),  son  of  Salmon  Bunnell  and 
Lois  Leete,  of  Broome  county,  New  York,  came  to  section  20  in  1837.  He 
married,  first,  Mary  Dyer  in  1839.  She  died  in  1847  and  he  married  in 
1848  Harriet  N.  Dyer  (1825-1883).  These  were  daughters  of  Capt.  Charles 
Dyer  and  Mary  Galusha,  and  sisters  of  Dr.  Edward  G.  Dyer. 

Harvey  Morse  Curtiss  (1817-1890),  son  of  Harvey  Curtiss  and  Melinda 
Morse,  bought  in  sections  14,  23,  in  1840.  He  married  twice:  Calcina  A. 
Smith  (1831-1852)  and  Eliza  Almira  Smith  (1825-1899).  They  were 
daughters  of  John  and  Caroline  Smith.  Mr.  Curtiss  was  one  of  the  best 
men  in  his  town. 

Julius  Derthick  (1795-1863)  and  wife  Esther  Monroe  v(  1790-1879), 
daughter  of  George  Monroe  and  Miss  Bennett,  came  from  Portage  county, 
Ohio,  in  1854  to  section  25.  Their  sonsjohn  H.  and  Walter  G.  are  named  in 
the  official  lists  of  the  county. 

Isaiah  Hamblin  (1790-1857)  was  son  of  Barnabas  and  wife  Daphne, 
daughter  of  William  Haynes.  (His  other  ancestors:  Sylvanus,4  Elkanah,8 
James2  1).  He  was  born  in  Massachusetts  and  died  in  California.  His 
wife  died  in  Iowa  in  1847,  before  which  time  he  had  left  his  home  here  to 
rejoin  the  Mormons,  beyond  the  river. 


352 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Albert  Dyer  Harris  (1820-1891),  son  of  Dyer  Harris  and  Temperance 
Watrous,  had  earlier  ancestors:  Ephraim,4  3  Asa,2  James.1  He  was  born 
in  Connecticut,  married  in  1845  Maria,  daughter  of  William  Bell  and  Harriet 
Owen,  and  came  in  that  year  to  section  36. 

Thomas  Harrison  (1793-1872)  had  wife  Clementina  M.  (1811-1845). 
His  land  was  in  section  26. 

Anson  Hendrix  (1793- 1849)  and  wife  Cynthia  Niles  (1799-1871)  left 
a  son  Wellington  (1821-1889),  whose  wife  was  Abigail  Briggs  (1822-1895), 
and  who  was  long  a  man  of  various  public  usefulness. 

Elias  Hicks  (1800-1885),  son  of  Nathaniel,  of  Bristol  county,  Massa- 
chusetts, married  Eliza  Witherspoon  in  1822,  and  came  in  1837  to  Lafayette. 
His  second  wife  was  named  Amanda.  He  died  at  Elkhorn.  There  have  been 
several  namesake  families  in  the  country,  some  of  whom  came  from  Nova 
Scotia. 

Murdock  (1810-1886)  and  Roderick  McKenzie  (1825-1898)  came 
from  Scotland  in  1842  and  in  1846  to  northern  Lafayette.  Murdock  married 
Jane  Lamont  (1827-1857);  Roderick  married  Susan,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Susan  Pollock.     Their  sister  Barbara  was  wife  of  Alexander  Matheson. 

Winthrop  Norton  (1800-1863)  married  Hannah  Cranston  (1800-1879) 
and  in  1842  came  from  Ohio  to  section  25.  Their  sons,  Abraham  C,  John 
II.  and  William  C,  and  daughter,  Zilpha  M.  (Mrs.  John  C.  Keyes),  were 
long  active  and  helpful  members  of  their  community.  Mr.  Norton  died  in 
California. 

Uriah  Payne,  son  of  the  pioneer  at  Geneva  Lake,  came  about  1842 
from  Duck  Lake,  and  bought  in  section  15,  but  left  no  distinct  mark  in  the 
town  history. 

Thomas  Pollock  (1808-1882)  and  wife  Susan  Manderson  came  from 
Scotland.     They  settled  near  their  son-in-law,  Roderick  McKenzie. 

Zephaniah  Short  (1815  [896)  was  born  in  Otsego  county;  in  1835 
married  Sally  Cockett  (1815-1893)  ;  came  to  Lafayette,  section  27.  In  their 
later  years  they  lived  at  Elkhorn.  Their  son  George  died  in  service  as  a 
soldier  of  the,  Twenty-eighth  Infantry  in  1863. 

nory  Singletery  (1798-1891)  was  born  at  Sutton,  Massachusetts.  He 
may  have  been  a  near  relative  of  Solomon  A.  Dwinnell,  whose  mother  was 
Hannah  Singletery.  He  married,  first,  Lois  Pierce;  second,  Catharine 
Smith  (1800-1875).     He  lived  in  section  22. 

Ezckiel  Brown  Smith  (1809-1882),  son  of  Willard  Smith  and  Amy, 
(laughter  of  Palmer  Gardner  and  Hannah,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary 
Xichols — therefore  an  aunt  of  the  first-comer  to  Spring  Prairie.    Her  father- 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  353 

line  was  George.1  Nicholas,  2  3  Sylvester,4  Palmer."'  Amy".  The  other  Gardner 
line  was  George.'  Nicholas,2  3  Sylvester,4  Palmer,5  Sylvester,"  Palmer,7  of 
Spring  Prairie.  In  1840  Mr.  Smith  married  Sophronia  (1812-1885), 
daughter  of  Amasa  Allen,  at  Ellisburg,  New  York,  and  came  in  1843  to 
section  12. 

Sylvester  Gardner  Smith  (1796-1878)  was  a  brother  of  Ezekiel  B. 
Smith,  and  was  born  in  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts.  He  came  to  sections 
11.  12.  His  first  wife  was  Diana  Ward,  whose  son,  Capt.  Lindsey  J.  Smith, 
of  Troy,  was  serviceable  in  war  and  in  peace.  His  second  wife  was  Mrs. 
Charity  Pierce. 

Daniel  Kingsley  Stearns  was  son  of  Theodore  Stearns  and  Charlotte 
Root.  He  died  between  1857  and  i860,  at  his  farm  in  section  21.  His 
wife,  Elizabeth  Kellogg,  was  thus  descended  in  father  line:  Nicholas,1 
Thomas.2  Philip."  Martin,4  Joseph,3  Nathaniel,6  7  Moses,8  Whiting.9  Her 
mother   was   Elizabeth    (  1750-1832),   daughter  of  Aaron   and   Mary   Cross. 

Isaac  Yant  (1806-1861)  and  wife  Ann  (1809-1888)  came  to  section  12. 

David  Tower  Vaughn  (1810-1888),  son  of  Samuel  Vaughn  and  Ruth 
Bowker,  was  born  in  Vermont;  married  Rebecca  Dinsmore  (1813-1876); 
came  in  1838  to  Spring  Prairie,  bought  in  section  13  of  Lafayette  in  1840, 
to  which  he  added  land  in  section  18,  Spring  Prairie,  until  he  owned  more 
than  five  hundred  acres.  His  brother.  Samuel  Cole  Vaughn,  and  brother- 
in-law.  Isaiah  Dike,  came  also  to  Spring  Prairie  in  1837. 

Joseph  D.  Whiteley  (born  1799)  and  wife  Mary  Jane  (1806-1889) 
went  within  a  few  years   (before   i860)   to  Walworth. 

George  Whitton  (or  Whiton?)  married  Jane  Hare.  He  died  in  185 1 
and  ten  years  later  she  died. 

Absalom  Williams  (1818-1892),  son  of  Absalom  Williams  and  Fanny 
Root,  married  Melissa  Tiffany  in  1840.  Tn  1844  he  came  to  section  34. 
He  had  sons  Emory,  Collins  M.,  Frank,  George,  and  Arnold  D.  From 
1853  to  1886  he  lived  in  Spring  Prairie,  and  died  at  Elkhorn.  His  wife 
(1820-1890)  died  at  Lyons. 

Alexander  Wilson  (1802-1873),  section  28.  married  Abigail  (1801- 
[887),  daughter  of  George  and  Abigail  Bishop.  They  came  to  the  town  in 
1842. 

Christopher  Wiswell    (1811-1883),   son   of   Capt.    Henry    Wiswell   and 
Elizabeth  Salter,  was  born  at  Dalton,  Massachusetts,  and  came  from  Chen- 
ango  county  in   1N40.  first  buying  in  section  5.     He  married  Almira  (1817- 
[883),  daughter  of  Stephen  G.  West  and  Rebecca  Pike. 
'   (23)   ' 


354 


\\  ALW0RTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


The  Elkhorn  and  Eagle  branch  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
railway  crosses  sections  4,  5.  8,  18,  19,  31,  and  has  a  station  in  section  8, 
named  by  the  company  for  Jedediah  W.  Peck. 

There  are  seven  school  districts  in  the  town,  of  which  district  2  is  joint 
with  Troy,  district  4  with  Sugar  Creek,  district  7  with  Spring  Prairie  (the 
Bowers  schoolhouse).  and  district  9  with  Sugar  Creek  and  Troy. 

There  is  a  church  in  section  10,  at  the  Bishop  farm,  its  service  usually 
supplied  from  the  Congregational  church  at  East  Troy,  and  near  it  is  a  well- 
kept  burial  ground,  laid  out  in  1848.  There  are  also  graves  at  "Westville."' 
in  section  6,  and  at  the  Seymour  farm  in  section  18,  laid  out  in  1844. 

CHAIRMEN    OF   BOARD   OF   SUPERVISORS. 


Dr.  Jesse  Carr  Mills 1843 

Nathaniel  Bell 1844-6,  '50-1 

Christopher  Wiswell 1847,  '60-3 

Harvey  Morse  Curtiss-1848,  '74>  '83 

Ralph  Patrick 1849 

John  Bell 1852-3 

James  Harkness I854"5 

Robert  Thompson  Seymour 

[856-7,  '66-8 

Reuben   B.    Burroughs 1858-9 

Ezekiel    Brown   Smith 1864-5 

Stephen  R.  Edgerton 1869,  '7^ 

Jedediah  William  Peck 1870 

Calvin  II.  Wylie 1871-2,  '78 


Abraham  Cranston  Norton. -187^. 
•84,  '87 

Joseph  Potter 1876,  '82 

jay  P.  Wylie 1877 

Virgil  Cobb 1879-80 

Theodorus  Northrop 18S1 

Delos  Harrington 1888,  '91 

Jay  Foster 1889.  '90.  '1)4 

James   E.   Lauderdale 1892 

Bennet  F.   Ludtke J893,  '97 

Milo  Bingham  Ranney 1805-6.  '98 

George  L.  Harrington 1899-1901 

Charles   E.    Knapp 1902-6 

Frederick   Milton   Dike 1907-9 

William  Harmon 1910-12 


ASSOCIATE   SUPERVISORS. 


I. out    Mien 1835 

Anthony   Belk 1905 

George  Bentley 1879-80 

Erwin    V    III Igood igoy 

Uberl  Brown 1882,  1902-3 

James  Child [859,  '71-2 

Oscai    I'    I  oats T907-9 

William   II    Conger r852-3 


George  Costello 1911 

Harvey    Morse   Curtiss 1846-7. 

'50.  '8] 

Harvey  Ward  Curtiss 1891 

John   Henry   Derthick 1873 

Julius    Derthick    i860 

Walter  George  Derthick 1866-7 

Frederick  Milton  Dike 1900-6 


WA1. WORTH     COUNTY.    WISCONSIN. 


.1 3  3 


Brewster  B.  Drake 1866,  ~jj.  '78 

Charles  E.  Ellsworth 1904 

William  Pierce  Ellsworth 1869 

George  W.  Fairchild 1885 

Jay  Foster 1887-8 

Solomon  H.  Foster 1876 

Everett  A.  Greene 1909,  '12 

Porter  Greene 1856 

James  Harkness 1910-11 

Rut  us   Dudley  Harriman 1874 

Albert  Dyer  Harris 1851 

James  V.   Hempstead 1854 

Wellington  Hendrix 1863-4,  '68 

Peter  Hinman 1844-5,  "47"S 

Henry  A.  Hubbard 1867-8,  '80 

Hiram   Humphrey 1845,    49 

Charles   E.   Ketchpaw 1883 

John   C.   Keyes 1871-2 

James  E.  Lauderdale 1895-6 

Louis  E.  Lauderdale 1912 

Bennet  F.  Ludtke 1891 

Donald  F.  Matheson 1908 

Oscar  D.   Merrick 1889 

Nathan  W.  Mower 1870 

Anthony  Xoblet 1879 

Abraham   Cranston   Norton 1869 

Ralph  Patrick 1846,  '48 

Jedediah  William  Peck 1865 

Frederick    Peglow 1899 


Alonzo    Potter 1870 

Geo.  Eugene  Potter 1890,  '92-4,  '97 

Joseph  Potter T859,  '75,  '77 

Patrick  Powers 1893-4 

Milo  B.  Ranney 1898 

Henry   Rieck    1898 

Sherman  Morgan  Rockwood 1843 

Charles  F.  Rohde 1884-6,  '92,  '97 

Sylvester  C.  Sanford 1861 

Robert  Thompson  Seymour 1873 

Ezekiel  Brown  Smith 1857, 

'60-2,  '74 

Henry  Harrison  Sterling 1862 

August  Voss 1881-3,  '87 

John  Wadsworth 1850 

William  Webb 1884.  '86 

Nelson  West 1865 

Stephen  Gano  West 1851-2,  '54 

William  Montague  Whitney. _  1863-4 

Absalom  Williams 1853 

Alexander    Wilson 1843-4 

Frederick   Winter 1877-8, 

'88-90,  '95-6 

Christopher  W'iswell 1856,    [858 

Frederick  Clayton  Wiswell-1899-1901 

William  J.   Wood-' 1906 

Calvin  H.  Wylie 1849,  'S7"8 

John  Perry   Wylie 1876 


TOWN   CLERKS. 


Reuben  B.  Burroughs 1843 

Charles   Seeley   1844-6 

Alva   H.    Thompson 1847 

George  G.  Sewell 1848-50 

Harvey  Morse  Curtiss 1851-2 

Wellington   Hendrix 1853 

George  Washington  Wylie.  1854-1860 


(  alvin  H.  Wiley— 1861,  '65-6,  '70,  '82 

Stephen  R.  Edgerton 1862-4 

Wallace   W.   Hartwell 1867-9 

Xiles   Anson   Hendrix 1871-3 

Milo   Bingham    Ranney. .!_ 1 874- 

80,  '83-8 
Harvey   A.    Greene 1881 


356 


WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 


Leonard  Cobb- _  1889-96,  '98,  1901-9     Joseph  Robert  Potter 1899-1900 

George  P.  Peck 1897,  1910-12 


TREASURERS. 


Solomon  Ashley  Dwinnell 1843 

Joseph  Whitmore 1844 

Svlvester    Gardner    Smith 1845-8 

Alexander  Hervey  Bunnell 1849 

Christopher  Wiswell 1850 

Jedediah  William  Peck 185 1 

Peter   Ilinman    1852 

X.    Howard  Briggs 1853 

Jacob  Wright 1854 

William  .Montague  Whitney-- 1855-6 

Reuben  I!.  Burroughs 1857 

William    Pierce   Ellsworth 1858 

Robert  S.   Hendrix 1859 

Stephen    Williams   i860 

George  Wright 1861-5,  '74-6 

Charles  W.  Concklin 1866 


Albert  E.   Oviatt 1867 

Niles  Anson  Hendrix 1868 

Robert  B.   Webb 1869 

Sanford  Doane 1870-3 

Theodoras   Northrop 1877-80 

Ezekiel  Brown  Smith 1881 

William  H.  McArthur 1882-4 

William   H.   Coombe 1885,   '91-3 

Leonard  Cobb 1886-7 

Julius   M.   Ellsworth—.  1888-90, 
'98-1907 

Clayton  E.  Mower 1894 

Charles  E.  Ellsworth 1895-6 

Frank   Harmon   l%97 

Erwin  A.  Bloodgood 1908-9 

Robert  J.  Ludtke 1910-12 


JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE. 


Nelson  Catlin 1862-3,   '65-6 

Robert  Cheney 1899-1900 

James    Child 59-60,    '62-5, 

"68-74,  '75-90-  '94-9 

Oscar  P.  Coats 1901-2,  '06-7 

Waller  George  Derthick__i879,  '86-7. 

Frederick  Milton  Dike 1908-9 

Stephen  R.  Fdgcrtoii 1867-74 

Richard   Baker  Mack 1859-62 

lay  Foster 1887-95 

Levi   Hare     1872-3 

George  L.  Harrington 1898 

Wellington  Hendrix 1863-74 


Mark  Hunt 

Willam  L.  Lane 

William    II.    McArthur. 

Clayton    P..  Mower 

( 'harle-  Isaac  Peck 

Milo  B.  Ranney 


Oscar  B.  Rogers 1 

Henry    Schroeder 

John  Schubert 

Ezekiel  Brown  Smith 

Jesse  Pike  West 

Alexander  Wilson 

Calvin  II.  W'vlie 1 


■  1805-6 
.1866-7 
.1880-3 
-.1890 
.1891-2 
.1893-4 
879-80 
1S8J-7 

1  So,, -1 
1877-9 
..1865 
1860-I 
885-90 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


TOWN    OF    LAGRANGE. 


Town  4  north  of  range  16  east  was  set  off  March  21,  1843,  from  the 
town  of  Elkhorn  and  named  for  an  estate  or  country-seat  of  the  hereof  three 
revolutions,  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  It  lies  next  southward  from  Palmyra, 
in  Jefferson  county;  and  the  city  of  that  name  has  trade  relations  and  some 
personal  interests  with  part  of  the  town  on  this  side  of  the  line.  Lagrange 
is  generally  about  nine  hundred  fifty-five  feet  above  sea-level.  It  is  within 
the  lower  loop  of  the  great  Kettle  moraine,  and  its  numerous  pot-like  de- 
pressions are  characteristic  of  that  great  glacial  deposit.  Some  of  these  are 
(or  have  been)  miniature  lakes.  The  group  of  lakes  named  Lauderdale, 
from  owners  of  adjacent  land,  is  in  the  southeastern  corner,  section  36, 
and  from  it  Honey  creek  takes  its  course  across  the  Troy  and  Spring  Prairie 
to  Fox  river.  A  branch  of  the  Scuppernong  flows  northward,  from  section 
18, and  through  sections  7  and  6. 

•.  The  land  is  generally  as  fertile  as  any  in  the  county,  and  Heart  prairie, 
in  the  southwestern  quarter,  was  long  regarded  as  especially  so.  The 
farmers  of  the  town  have  l>een  as  far-seeing  and  prosperous  as  elsewhere 
within  county  limits.  Stock-raising  received  early  attention  and  effort,  and 
men  of  Heart  prairie  made  their  corner  of  the  town  widely  famous  for  its 
improved  breed  of  hogs.  For  a  few  years  each  side  of  1880  a  few  tons 
of  tobacco  were  raised,  but  that  crop  has  since  disappeared  from  the  yearly 
reports.  Heart  prairie  lies  about  965  feet,  and  the  opposite  corner  of  the 
town  about  943  feet  above  sea-level.  Trenton  limestone  is  found  at  720 
to  870  feet  above  the  sea. 

James  Holden  made  the  first  lawful  claim  to  land  within  the  town, 
a  square-mile  on  Heart  prairie,  early  in  1837.  He  was  soon  followed, 
within  the  year,  by  Amasa  Bigelow,  James  Burt,  Gabriel  Cornish  and  sons, 
Edwin  DeWolf,  George  Esterly,  Volney  A.  McCraken,  True  Rand  and 
Benjamin  Swett.  1838  brought  Stephen  B.  Davis,  Orison  G.  Ewing, 
Ephraim  C.  Harlow,  William  McDougald,  Thomas  Waterman,  John  Weld, 
Elijah  Worthington  (with  father  and  brother).  Robert  G.  Esterly  and 
Marshall  Newell  came  in  1839.    Among  men  of  1840  were  Charles  P.  Ellis, 


Jj8  WALWORTH    COUNTY,    WISCONSIN. 

James  W.  Field,  Stephen  C.  Goff,  Oliver  P.  Gunnison,  Caleb  and  Levi 
Harris,  Enos  J.  Hazard,  Ezekiel  Lewis.  In  1841  Benjamin  F.  Fox,  John 
King,  William  Lyon,  Caleb  and  Robert  K.  Morris,  John  Norcross,  Moses 
Rand,  Samuel  Robinson,  James  H.  Sanford.  Other  early  arrivals  were 
those  of  Horace  and  Nathan  Adams,  John  H.  Cooper,  Hiram  Cross,  David 
S.  Elting,  Benjamin  Fowler,  James  Lauderdale,  John  Olds,  Isaac  C.  Phelps. 

Entries  at  the  land  office,  were  made  by  Henry  Adkins,  Sewell  Andrews, 
Thomas  Astin,  William  Benjamin  Astin.  Hugh  Barker,  Samuel  Barr, 
Harvey  Birchard,  Thomas  Bray,  William  Bromley,  Walter  Clayton,  James 
Coats,  James  George  Conklin.  Richard  Day,  Julius  Edwards,  Walter  P. 
Flanders,  Jesse  Halsted,  John  C.  Harlow,  John  Harrison,  Charles  Heath, 
Silas  and  William  Houghton,  Herman  Jenkins,  Lars  Johnson,  Caleb  and 
George  W.  Kendall,  Samuel  Kershaw,  Edmund  King,  Jacob  R.  Kling, 
Sjur  Knudson,  Julius  H.  Lauderdale,  Harvey  Andrew  Lawton,  Hugh  and 
Patrick  Lee,  Henry  C.  Leffingwell,  George  Leland,  Ralph  Lockwood, 
William  Lumb,  Alexander  McDonald,  Isaac  Magoon,  Patrick  Mahan, 
Edward  Malcomb,  Corrall  Higley  Mills,  Delos  Storms  Mfills,  Forest  W. 
.Mills,  Richard,. L.  Morris,  Noyes  Darling  Niblack,  John  B.  and  George  W. 
Norcross,  Benjamin,  Halver,  Matthias  and  Oliver  Oleson,  John  Padley,  Ole 
Peterson,  Isaac  Severance,  Sidney  F.  Shepard.  Isaac  I.  Sherwood,  George 
and  Maxwell  Smith,  Peter  Spur.  James  and  James  P.  Stewart,  Nelson  Z. 
Strong,  Joshua  Taylor,  Homer  Ward,  Francis  B.  Webster.  Iver  Wickinson, 
John   Wilson. 

Horace  Adams  (1801-1863)  had  first  wife  Sarah  R.  (1S02-1849), 
second  wife  Fanny  Emerson   (born  181 1).     He  died  at  Racine. 

Nathan  Adams  (1778-1850)  had  wife  Rachel.  (His  headstone  gives 
dates  1 781-1855 — not  a  solitary  instance  of  difference  between  stone-cutter 
an<!  other  record-makers.) 

Thomas  Astin  (1822-1907)  had  wife  Elizabeth  (1823-1898).  He 
bought   in  section  9. 

Amasa  Bigelow  came  from  Nova  Scotia.  His  first  wife  was  named 
Welch.     Second  wife,  Ann,  died  in   1906. 

James  Burt's  son,  born  in  1838,  was  the  first  native  resident  of  the 
town. 

Gabriel  Cornish  (1772-1853)  and  wife  Eliza  (1873-1837)  came  with 
sons  Anson.  Jared,  and  Nelson,  in  1837,  to  section  15.  Anson  became  a 
clergyman. 

Hiram  Cross  (1811-1882)  came  in  [842  to  section  25.  He  was  an 
[y  improver  of  stock-breed-,  and,  took  premiums  at  the  first  county  fair. 


WALWORTH     COUNTY,    WISCONSIN.  359 

Stephen  B.  Davis  married  Esther  Newell  April  24,  1842.  She  was 
probably  a  daughter  of  Marshall  and  Esther  Newell. 

Edwin   DeWolf  married   Elizabeth   C.    McCracken,    February  8,    1843. 

David  S.  Elting  was  earlier  of  Lafayette.  He  married  Eliza  Manwell, 
October  31,  1841. 

Ephraim  C.  Harlow  (1806-1899)  was  son  of  Levi  Harlow  and  Eliza- 
beth Cary.  He  married  Emeline  (1811-1891),  daughter  of  Joseph  Bigelow, 
and  lived  on  section  1,  near  Little  Prairie. 

Caleb  Harris  (1810-1893),  son  of  Jeremiah  Harris  and  Priscilla  Cole, 
grandson  of  Anthony  Harris,  Jr..  was  born  in  Jefferson  county,  New  York. 
He  married  April  11,  1844,  Laura  Ann  Bronson  (1822-1904).  He  came 
with  a  brother,  Levi,  and  brother-in-law,  Ellis,  in  1842.  Wesley  Harris 
(1795-1884)  and  wife  Esther  (  1789- 1852)  are  buried  at  Lagrange;  but 
relationship,  if  any,  with  Caleb  is  not  learned. 

Enos  J.  Hazard  (1810-1857)  married  Celestia  Knight,  December  10, 
1845.  (His  widow,  Julia  C,  may  have  been  the  same  person.)  In  1848 
he  was  chosen  as  assemblyman  over  Augustus  C.  Kinne  and  Thomas  Water- 
man. 

Charles  Heath  (1818-1889)  and  wife  Harriet  E.  (born  1817)  were 
parents  of  Julia  M.  Y..  late  widow  of  William  H.  Morrison,  who,  was  long 
known  in  county  and  state  service. 

Nathaniel  G.  Holden  (1818-1872)  was  son  of  Josiah  Holden  and 
Elizabeth  Leland.  Elvira  J.,  his  wife,  was  born  in  1819.  They  came  in 
1842  to  Heart  prairie. 

William  Houghton  (18